


The Tale of a Thousand Stars

by tpwkbrooklyn



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Anal Sex, Angst, Astrology, Coming Out, Fluff, Gay, Harry is obsessed with stars, Internalized Homophobia, Louis is obsessed with Criminal Minds, M/M, New Castle, New Hampshire, New York, Oral Sex, Small Towns, Smut, Stars, Summer, Summer Vacation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 07:00:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 48,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29309955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tpwkbrooklyn/pseuds/tpwkbrooklyn
Summary: Louis Tomlinson is an 18-year-old from New York City. Harry Styles is a 16-year-old from a small town called New Castle, New Hampshire. After Louis' family buys a summer home in New Castle, he goes to spend the summer before his senior year of high school in the small town. He ends up meeting the local boy, Harry- who is unusually fascinated with the stars and constellations. Through a summer of love, hatred, and evolution- this is the tale of a thousand stars.
Relationships: Gigi Hadid/Zayn Malik, Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne/Original Female Character(s), Niall Horan/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 36





	1. Falling Like The Stars

**Author's Note:**

> After a long-awaited 9 months- it's finally here. Thank you so much for your patience, it means so much to me. Thank you to my amazing friends for supporting me while writing this. I love you. 
> 
> I was originally known as @tpwkbrooklyn on Twitter, I've since been suspended, so please follow my new account, it's @tpwkbrookie. 
> 
> Follow my Socials:  
> Instagram- tpwkbrooklyn  
> Wattpad- tpwkbrooklyn
> 
> Playlist for the story: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0oCbzrcQqyYpwk2ixZC4N3?si=1ENTdexYSP62Kw_AEv5mmQ

**Author's Note: The ages of the Tomlinson family have been changed to make sense with the storyline. For example, there is only a 3 year age difference between Louis and Lottie Tomlinson. This will not affect the overall plot of the story. Thank you. Also, a playlist has been made and you can listen [here](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0oCbzrcQqyYpwk2ixZC4N3?si=eOwLCArhQvCCkY5i_InTBg)**

They say the stars tell a story. Whether that be the story of Cassiopeia, whose vanity left her stuck among the stars. Or the story of Aquila, who would bring the gods water atop Mount Olympus. 

Maybe their story would live amongst the stars. Maybe their love would burn brightly above them. Until then, they were just two boys who spent the summer together in the small town of New Castle. 

* * *

“I cannot believe you’re fucking leaving us for the entire summer. What are we supposed to do without you?” Liam threw back his Coke before setting it back down on the table. They were gathered around the lunch table, the one they had claimed on the first day of school. The entire day had, so far, consisted of moping around about Louis leaving them in two weeks and the lot of them trying to convince their teachers that watching a movie on the last day of school would be far more beneficial than them taking a final. 

His family had just bought a house in the small town of New Castle, New Hampshire. Population 981. Where everyone knew the mailman by name, and the waitress at the diner could remember your order every time you went in. Louis hadn’t been to the house yet. Nor had he been to the town. His knowledge of the place was simply from images he found on google and had proudly sent to their group chat to show them the new place. 

He was feeling two emotions going into this summer. 

1\. Excited to be in the new summer house along with doing all his favorite tourist activities, including but not limited to a spectacular 4th of July barbeque that his family always threw for the neighborhood. 

And, 

2\. Absolutely pissed about having to leave his best friends for 3 months. 

Luckily for him, it was more so emotion number one. Because a summer away from the anxiety and craziness of the city sounded _so fucking nice._ But despite all that excitement in his bloodstream, he felt about getting to spend the summer anywhere else, being away from the energy of the city was going to be a weird change for him and his sisters.

“You can still hang out, I just won’t be there,” he paused and looked around at his annoyed friends, “ _and_ we can facetime every day. Promise.” He smiled and nudged his elbow at Zayn to cheer him up. 

“Okay boys, we’re going to the bathroom, finish planning Louis’ party,” Brooklyn said, slinging her backpack over her shoulder and trotting out of the cafeteria with Gigi in tow. 

“Okay, we can throw the party at my house: my family will be gone that weekend for my sister’s graduation,” Liam chimed in. Now that they had established a place for the party, there was just the small matter of obtaining alcohol for the night. They were going to have to depend on Zayn for that: aside from being the only one with a fake ID, he was also the only one who looked even remotely close to being of age. Louis normally looked 15 at best, and that was on a good day. Liam could _maybe_ pass for 19 with a little effort. 

Liam and Louis both glanced over at the dark-featured lad and smiled. Zayn immediately knew what they were going to ask. He rolled his eyes and sighed. “I’ll get us the alc. Just pay me back afterward.” The two other boys smiled at that, nodding along while finishing up their food. 

Originally, they had planned for their summer before senior year to be filled with countless parties, bonfires, and running around Time Square at 2 am. That was until Louis came walking into their period 2 trigonometry class with the brilliant news that his family had bought a house in some random town called New Castle- _and_ that he would be spending the entire summer there. 

Which prompted them to ask, 

“ _What the fuck is New Castle?”_

_“Isn’t that in England?”_

_“Why?????”_

_“When are you leaving?”_

Despite their failed attempts at convincing him to stay, Louis was far too excited and insisted he was going. Because, seriously, what could go wrong in New Castle?

* * *

“So, is Eleanor gonna be there?” Louis toed his shoes off as he stepped inside his house, Brooklyn, and Zayn trailing behind him. He and Eleanor had been flirting for the last year and a half. She was beautiful, with long, shiny brown hair that fell the length of her back all the way to her waist with ease. Louis was completely mesmerized by it. Eleanor was his last-ditch effort in finding out if he was 100%, totally and completely gay. Because the flirting was fine, and flirting with girls seemed fine. And maybe he wasn’t gay, and maybe it was just a random moment for him. Well, a few random moments. 

The internalized homophobia was definitely more than present with Louis, and his sexuality was in a constant state of denial for him. 

“Probably. I mean, she goes to every party. Why are you gonna finally do her tonight? Whatcha got planned Tommo?” Zayn joked. Louis had been telling his friends about Eleanor since the middle of sophomore year when the brunette girl showed up to the end of semester party despite her only transferring to LaGuardia High a week prior. 

She had been standing around in the kitchen at the party for 32 minutes before someone finally approached her. Louis. He tried to smoothly pick her up with one of those shitty pick-up lines he had googled while sitting in his bedroom a few weeks before.

Despite him feeling little to nothing with the girl, he decided to keep up the flirting and random interactions since then. 

He figured talking about a girl would prevent any suspicions his friends may have. Maybe it would even pull some sort of psychological game on himself to trick him into heterosexuality. (It hadn’t, but he was still holding out on some hope).

“Why not? No better time than now,” Louis smiled. Truthfully he was nervous. Deep down he knew this was a horrible idea to test his "am I gay" theory, and deep down he knew that him flirting and toying with Eleanor in hopes of changing his feelings towards men was quite fucked up. 

“I mean, a better time would’ve been a sophomore year. But, to each their own, Lou,” Zayn joked. Louis and Zayn had been best friends since kindergarten, so Louis was used to the teasing and sarcastic jokes they’d make towards one another. Louis was just happy that he and Zayn had lasted being close friends this long. 

Louis always worried in the back of his mind that one day Zayn and he wouldn’t be friends at some point. Not because of some big fight or because one of them decided they didn’t like each other, but because one of them would find a new group of friends, and they’d just grow apart as most kindergarten friendships did. For him, Zayn felt like the one constant in his life- and he had a huge fear of ruining that with any newfound information regarding his sexual preferences. 

“Shut up, Zayn. Not all of us have high school sweethearts,” Louis rolled his eyes jokingly. 

“I do” Brooklyn smiled cheekily. Just like Zayn, Brooklyn was in a happy relationship with Liam. Leaving Louis to, in a painfully obvious manner, sport the proud title that he was the only one in their friend group not in a relationship. 

Zayn and Gigi had been together since the 8th grade. They were always meant for each other, and everyone knew it. They were one of those middle school relationships that may actually last. Rare, but if it were to happen to anyone, it would be Zayn and Gigi.

As for Brooklyn, she and Liam had been friends since the 2nd grade and by the time they hit the 5th grade they both had crushes on one another. It only took years of awkward and forced flirting for them to finally start dating at the beginning of the junior year. 

Louis always said he wasn’t jealous, but they all knew he was. He was always envious of watching them kiss, watching them be super cheesy and cute to the point where it made Louis nauseous. 

He especially hated the const 5th wheeling he was always doing. Whenever they went out together, which was nearly every night, it was always BrooklynandLiam, ZaynandGigi, and Louis. And it seemed to become more and more obvious the longer the relationships lasted. 

“No really, this is gonna be the party where I make a move. Been flirting with her a bit now, might actually go for it,” Louis cheesed, showing off his white and seemingly perfect, straight teeth. 

“20 bucks says he chickens out,” Zayn laughed. Louis nudged him and rolled his eyes, knowing no matter what he did, his friends would seriously doubt his ability to pursue Eleanor. 

“Oh, I’m definitely in on that bet.” Brooklyn fist-bumped Zayn, the two of them smirking. 

“Oh, fuck off,” the caramel hair boy barked at them. He grabbed the television remote from his bedside table and flicked on “Criminal Minds,” a staple tv show that he and his friends absolutely adored. It seemed to be one of the few things they watched when they were all together. 

Them watching Criminal Minds consisted of Brooklyn and Gigi absolutely gawking over Spencer Reid, Zayn and Liam drooling over JJ, and Louis, well he found himself more attracted to Spencer Reid. 

The thought of him liking boys never fully crossed his mind completely until Brooklyn had introduced him to the show and the sexually confused feelings hit him all at once. 

It made so many aspects of his life make sense now. Like the time he watched Captain America in the movie theatres with Zayn for the first time, and he nearly got a hard-on when he saw Chris Evans shirtless. It was quite the adventure when he was nervously trying to push it back down and crossing his legs to cover it, prompting Zayn to ask if he was “alright over there?”

It also explained the time when all of them were watching Fight Club and Liam found Marla Singer particularly attractive and all Louis could focus on was Tyler Durden. 

Or the time back at their sophomore year Halloween party when Louis just couldn’t stop staring at the captain of the lacrosse team and the bulge he had in his pants. And he couldn't help but note the boy’s ridiculously pretty, perfectly sculpted face. 

So yes: Criminal Minds (or more specifically, Spencer Reid) prompted Louis’ gay awakening. But he didn’t plan on telling anyone that. Especially his friends. Louis knew his friends, and he knew that they weren't homophobic. He just didn't want them to look at him any differently after years of friendship. 

If he didn’t think too much, he thought coming out could be quite easy. He’d say something like “See that guy over there. He’s hot. Boys are hot. Boys.” Then all his friends would be like, “Oh wow, cool. I kinda figured,” or something like that. But then the more Louis had thought about it, his mind would race with all those stupid _what-ifs_ , and he’d end up convinced he’d have zero friends at the end of it. 

Louis shook himself out of his thoughts and dragged himself back to the present. Brooklyn and Zayn were hard at work on their final acting project, and it was about time Louis contributed something. The three of them sprawled on Louis' obnoxiously large king-sized bed with the show playing in the background. No matter how hard he tried to focus, Louis kept occasionally glancing up to stare at Spencer.

* * *

“So, I was thinking,” Harry began as he hopped onto the bed. He looked at his two best friends, who looked less than thrilled to see what he had to say. “What if instead of movie night, we go stargazing?”

The silence from Niall and Kennedy was a clear enough answer to Harry: a definite no.

Eventually, Niall piped up, “One more time, I’m gonna add that to the list of things we’re _not_ going to be doing this summer.” He plopped a chocolate chip cookie into his mouth before focusing his attention back on the tv show they had on. Harry may or may not have forced them into doing this before.

“Agreed,” Kennedy said.

“ _Pleaseeee,_ you guys. It’s such a clear night, and I wanna see if I can find Cassiopeia. I promise we can do movie night tomorrow.” Harry put on his signature puppy dog eyes that no one and, especially not Niall, could resist. 

Niall turned his head to try and avoid Harry’s glassy eyes and black fluttering eyelashes. Harry jumped around in front of Niall, flaunting the puppy eyes barely 3 inches from his face. Niall failed and quickly caved. “FINE! FINE! We can go if you stop giving me that look, H. God, you look like a sad, lost puppy.” 

“Yeah, that was kind of the whole point,” Harry beamed, smiling ear to ear. 

“Hold on, don’t I get a say in this?” Kennedy sat up from the bed and gave Niall a good shove before mumbling to him, “Why the fuck did you say yes?”

“I couldn’t resist the sad puppy face, Ken! You know I can’t!” Kennedy only rolled her eyes in response. 

Harry loved stargazing. Every night that he wasn’t baking with his mother or watching Mamma Mia with his friends for the 1200th time that week, he went to this spot in the woods to look at the stars. It was the spot that he had found when he was 13 years old, the day his dad had passed away. He had needed to get out of the house and escape, if only for an hour. 

He had wandered the small town in circles for ages until he ventured into the woods that were tucked away behind the lighthouse. He walked for 15 minutes before coming upon a small clearing in the wooded area. It had a large rock and soft green grass. 

Since that day, it was a place only for him. No one knew about it. Granted, it may have been because the town was so small that no one ever dared to go searching the other side of town for an obscure area. It also may have been because Harry chose a spot deep enough into the woods that no one would be able to hear him scream. 

“Okay, so you’re just gonna skip out on Mamma Mia night?” Kennedy pouted, crossing her arms in front of her chest. 

“No... we’re _all_ gonna skip Mamma Mia night. Plus we’ve seen it a thousand times already” Harry declared. He did love a good Mamma Mia singalong night, but seriously, he didn’t know how many more times he could watch Niall and Kennedy do their own rendition of “Dancing Queen” and still insist their performance was better than Colin Firth. It wasn’t. No one was better than _the_ dancing queen himself, Colin Firth. 

Niall looked over at Kennedy and batted his eyes, she groaned before pressing out a shallow, “Fine.”

Harry smirked, proud of himself for getting his friends to agree, even though he knew that all night long he’d only hear complaints from the two of them. He’d put up with it somehow. He always did, after all. 

Hours later, Harry was leading his two friends through the woods, quickly weaving in between different trees and bushes. 

"Okay, Harry, look. I love you, I really do. But I'm getting increasingly nervous that you might be dragging us out here to commit manslaughter." Niall had a white-knuckled grip on Kennedy's hand, which was making her blush in the dark. The two of them had liked each other since elementary school, but they were both too terrified to make a move. It was painfully, embarrassingly obvious.

This hand-holding that Niall was doing, because he was scared of the dark, was the closest they had gotten to what could be considered “flirting”. 

“Yep. You caught me. It’s been my plan all along, Ni. Ever since preschool, I planned on becoming your friend only to one day slaughter you in the woods.” Harry continued leading the way, rolling his eyes as he went. 

“See, you said that with a surprisingly straight face and now I’m getting a bit concerned too,” Kennedy added.

Harry laughed and moved a tree branch over with his arm to reveal the final destination. “Welcome. All I ask is to not tell anyone about this place, it’s kind of special to me.” He smiled before spreading out a blanket down on the grass for them to lay. 

“Wow, this is actually really nice, Harry.” Niall sat down next to Kennedy on the colorful blanket, “Sooo, now what?” 

“We look at the stars,” Harry said with a grin before leaning back onto the blanket and looking up. 

  
  



	2. Apotelesma

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains a fluff section for Niall and Kennedy's characters. It's a subplot I chose to focus on a little bit.

The smell of cheap beer and spilled vodka had filled the house quickly. Along with the awful music that Liam insisted on playing. He said, “his house, his music”, and god did Louis wish he had the party at his house instead if those were the new rules. He didn’t know how many more country songs he could hear before personally finding Jason Aldean himself and ripping out his vocal cords so he didn’t have to hear anymore singing about tractors and beer. 

“Li, I’m begging, please let me change the song. No one wants to hear Dirt Road Anthem for the 7th time tonight!” Louis shouted over the loudspeakers and all noise at the party. Liam rolled his eyes at the shorter boy before handing him his phone to change the music. 

Louis snatched it quickly and set down his beer next to him on the floor before searching up his own party playlist he had made on Spotify. After just a moment, a song from “Lou’s party playlist!!!!!!” began to play. And clearly, the rest of the people at the party were equally as excited for the country music to be off.

“I thought people liked my country music,” Liam pouted. Prompting a few laughs from his friends and Brooklyn rubbing his shoulder, “Sure they do, baby. Sure they do.”

Louis was pretty sure he was overthinking. No, he was  _ definitely _ overthinking. It’s not like he hadn’t spoken to Eleanor before. They were cool, friends even. Friends who frequented the area of flirting. 

He downed another few shots of whatever he had Zayn pour him, and proudly walked over to Eleanor who was standing with her best friend, Ella. He swallowed down the lump in his throat as he approached the two girls talking. 

“Hey, El,” he started with, okay, and now what? His mind raced around quickly before continuing, “uh can I get you a drink?” He asked, ignoring the fact that she already had one. 

She smiled at him before turning to Ella and winking. Ella walked away after giving the two of them a smug smile. 

“Well, I already have a drink,” she lifted her arm to show Louis the red solo cup filled with jungle juice before smiling, “but, I’d love to… talk, somewhere quieter if you’d like.” She winked at him and Louis went red just at the thought, he quickly nodded and grabbed her free hand before leading her to the other room. 

They both sat down on the guest room bed, Eleanor throwing back the rest of her drink. It was only her first drink of the night, however, Louis was on his way to being completely pissed. 

“Thought I wasn’t gonna see you tonight,” Eleanor placed her hand on Louis’ tracing small shapes with her fingers. 

“Well here I am,” he smiled at her as she began to scoot closer to his body. She leaned in and pressed her lips to his, he found himself stiffening up behind the movement but tried to go with it.

In between kisses and random bursts of her tongue going into his mouth she breathed out, “hopefully it’ll go more than just talking,” Louis could feel her smirk against his lips, “liked you for so long, Lou.”

And no, this was all completely wrong. Everything about it. 

It only took him another second to break apart from the kiss and jump back. He couldn’t do it. Something in him told him, no, and it most definitely was the fact that when Eleanor kissed him, he knew for sure- 100% he was gay. Sure the flirting was fun and harmless he thought, but the moment Eleanor kissed him, it felt dull, lifeless, and frankly, quite boring. 

“I’m sorry, El… I can’t. I don’t- I don’t feel that way about you. I- I can’t, I’m so sorry,” He stood up and ran his fingers through his hair, and began pacing around the room. All he could hear was Eleanor mutter a “what the fuck,” under her breath. 

He ran his hands up and down his red pants and glanced over at the brunette girl sitting on the bed still. She was angry, very angry; her brows were furrowed down and she looked like she could kill a baby lamb without the amount of rage she was harboring. 

“WHAT THE FUCK, LOUIS!” Oh and now she was yelling. Louis winced at the tone in her voice, he walked towards her slowly, she stood up to meet his level. 

“So, what? You only wanted to get in my pants then? Or was the flirting for the last year just for fun?” Louis couldn’t tell if it was anger in her voice now or annoyance. Perhaps a little bit of both. 

“No, El- I- it’s so hard to explain, I just- I guess I’m realizing it just doesn’t feel… right.” His voice was soft and he was a bit worried about what she was going to reply with. 

“What? Are you like gay or something?” She spat.

Louis hadn’t prepared for this question to ever be asked and he certainly wasn’t ready to answer it. A quick lie would do the trick. 

He quickly composed himself before answering, “What?! Eleanor, no. I am  _ NOT  _ fucking gay!”

“Well with the way you just acted from me clearly trying to sleep with you, it sure as hell seems like it!” She rolled her eyes and grabbed her empty cup from the floor before heading towards the door that she had locked as she came in here, “whatever, Louis, I’ll see you around.” 

She slammed the door shut again behind her, Louis fell back onto the bed and shut his eyes, the alcohol all flooding back into his veins. His eyelids were heavy and he couldn’t open them, nor did he want to try. Eventually, he let himself drift off into a deep alcohol-induced sleep. 

Louis eventually woke up to the sound of a door being slammed shut. His eyes were hazy and stinging from having left his contacts in the night before. He rubbed his face to wake himself up before rising from the bed and grabbing his phone on the side table to check the time. 

_ 9:32 _

He groaned at the disgustingly early hour before heading out into the living area. The sun was gleaming through the tall windows in the living room, far too bright for this hour. Louis glanced down at the random teenagers who had fallen asleep all across the living room. A few on the floor, while a good handful had passed out on Liam’s huge couches. 

He made his way into the kitchen to find Brooklyn and Liam sitting at the island counter eating waffles. The smell filled his senses and it was far better than the awful stench of alcohol and sweat that the living room presented. 

“Hey you little alcoholic,” Brooklyn joked, “how’d you sleep?’ She got up from her spot next to Liam and began making Louis a waffle in the waffle iron she managed to dig out at the back of the cabinet. 

“Remind me not to drink this much- ever again.” He smiled before lazily throwing himself into one of the stools at the counter. He looked at his friends before asking, “what happened last night?”

Liam and Brooklyn both glanced at each other before Liam spoke up, “before or after you told Eleanor you didn’t like her anymore?” 

“I-what? Ugh, I don’t even remember it,” he threw his face into his hands, ready for his pounding headache to go away. Although, he wasn’t quite sure whether the headache was from the extensive amount of alcohol he had or from his own stupidity. 

“Probably for the best, love. She’s kind of a bitch anyway. Especially after she paraded around the party shouting how much of a dick you are.” Brooklyn added, placing the fresh waffle onto a plate along with two pieces of bacon. 

“Yeah, guess I dodged a bullet,” Louis immediately started eating his breakfast, “so, what’s the nice breakfast for? Do I get a good breakfast every time I have a hangover now?” He joked, secretly hoping this would become a routine thing. After all, he loved Brookyn’s cooking. 

“Waffles were per Liam’s request. I’m just hoping that no one wakes up and comes in and asks for some. Gonna have to kick them out soon,” Brooklyn added. 

“Yeah, I’ll kick ’em all out,” he swallowed down a few Advil in between eating with a glass of water, “where’s Zayn and Gi?” He got up and placed his plate into the sink, his body aching from the horrendous hangover. 

“They left last night around 2 am. Gi wasn’t feeling well and Zayn wouldn’t let her walk home alone.” 

Louis nodded, slightly jealous of Zayn and Gigi’s perfect relationship. For now, he just needed to go home and bask in his own self-loathing while putting on Criminal Minds yet again. 

He said his goodbyes to his friends quickly, knowing he’d see them again that night. He walked into the living room before jostling a few of the sleeping party-goers awake and telling them they had to leave. 

At every party they had, Louis was the designated one to wake everyone and kick them out- people seemed to listen to him more than anyone else. When Brooklyn tried kicking them out, they had all rolled back over grumbling something inaudible. And when Liam did it once, they all told him to fuck off. So Louis had gratefully accepted the job title. 

His walk home was miserable. And not only because his body felt like he wanted to fall onto the sidewalk and sleep with the homeless guy who was always perched around this corner. But mainly because he was washed with an overwhelming feeling of loneliness. 

He didn’t want to feel like one of those people always running around, preaching about how they wanted a girlfriend or boyfriend. But at this moment, that was exactly what he was doing, and he was proudly going to wallow in his self-pity if he needed to. 

* * *

Louis unlocked the door to his home, already hearing the overbearing noise of kids running around and his mother yelling at his younger siblings to eat their breakfast. 

Today was their last day in NYC until they went for the summer to New Hampshire. This last day for the Tomlinson family was always hectic, whether they were only planning on going for a weekend trip to the Cape, a day at their grandparents’ house, or in this case, the 3 month-long stay in a different state that Louis had absolutely nothing packed for. 

Procrastinating was his specialty and despite his mother telling him to begin packing three weeks ago he spent his time doing  _ anything  _ else. 

The moment he stepped through the door he was greeted with a screaming Daisy clutching at his waist. Normally he wouldn’t be taken aback by her petite size but since he was already over exhausted from the hangover attacking his body, he stumbled back a bit when met with her throwing herself at him.

“LOUUUUUU! Did you bring Zaynie with you?” She asked, her cute little voice echoing through his ears like sugar. He smiled at her before picking her up and throwing her over his right hip.

“No, Dais, he’s at home. I’ve gotta finish packing for our trip,” he smiled, carrying her into the kitchen with him, where his mother, Jay, and the third oldest Tomlinson sibling, Felicite, was finishing cleaning up the breakfast mess. 

Jay looked up to see her son carrying one of the twins and smiled, “Hey baby, I thought that was you. How was your night out?” She smiled, taking in his disheveled appearance, “hope you didn’t have too much to drink,” she winked. She could always tell when Louis had a night of drinking. And she was no idiot, she knew that’s what 18-year-olds did. Considering, she herself had dabbled in her fair share of underaged hangovers.

Louis blushed at his mother’s crass response, he knew she wasn’t mad, but he still was a bit embarrassed, “Mum, I’m exhausted. Please never let me drink again.” He put his younger sister back down into a chair, heading to the fridge for a green juice that Brooklyn  _ swore  _ got rid of hangovers after you drank it. They didn’t, but perhaps the placebo effect would make an appearance. 

“I have, love. And you never listen,” she laughed, “have you finished packing, baby?” She asked while helping Daisy down from her chair to go play with Phoebe. 

Louis slowly tried to walk away from his mother so he didn’t have to answer the question that he knew his mom wouldn’t like the answer to. 

Jay stopped him, “you didn’t pack did you?” She rolled her eyes before gesturing him to go to his room and finish, “go pack now, Louis. Not happy with you.”

Louis smiled before skipping off, “you love me!” he shouted before running upstairs to his room. Jay rolled her eyes and continued wiping up the spilled orange juice from the counter. 

Louis stepped into his room, the only place in the house he could truly find some peace and quiet. He allowed himself to fall back onto his fluffy, large bed, being nearly engulfed by the puffy duvet blanket. He laid in silence with his eyes closed for a few minutes before his sister, Lottie, came barging in.

“Louehhhhhhh,” she trotted in and sat on the end of his bed. Louis shushed her quickly groaning and rolling back over to have his face squished into the pillows.

“Go. Away,” he mumbled, wanting so desperately for the 15-year-old in his room to go away. She was always following Louis around, which sometimes he liked, but on days like today where he wanted to lay in complete darkness and silence, he was extremely close to using his foot to kick her off his bed. 

“I heard what happened at the party last night,” she smirked, “ya know? That Eleanor girl, really can’t keep her mouth shut.”

Fuck. How the hell did Lotts hear about it? He immediately sat up and stared at her before groaning, “did Brooklyn tell you? Liam?” Lottie shook her head and showed Louis her phone. A slew of drunk tweets from Eleanor plastered the timeline. 

“Oh, fantastic. Guess I did dodge a bullet. Anyways, can you leave so I can pack? Wanna get the fuck out of here.” 

Lottie hopped up and left Louis’ room. He pulled out his phone, and opened up the messages, he typed out a quick text and clicked send. 

_ Louis: hey can you like maybe delete those tweets _

It only took a minute until a response came through.

_ Eleanor: no.  _

Louis chucked his phone to the side of his bed and hopped up, grabbing the suitcases that sat at the back of his closest before mindlessly throwing different pairs of shorts and t-shirts into them. He really didn’t care how messy it all was. 

* * *

“Hey, Ken. Harry can’t hang today but would you still maybe be down?” Niall asked through the phone. He was laying on his couch, a bowl of popcorn resting on his stomach and some stupid action movie that he insisted was good. 

Kennedy was smiling on the other end of the phone, “Yeah, sure,” she tried to play it cool before continuing, “you can come over if you want.”

“Yeah, okay, I’ll be over in 5,” he smiled and hung up. His stomach filled with butterflies and he hopped off the couch and ran to his room before changing into a different pair of grey sweatpants that Harry called his “nice sweatpants”. His nice sweatpants were the ones he would save for places like Target, school, and Kennedy’s house. 

He took a left out of his driveway and began the quick walk over to Kennie’s house. His palms were beading with sweat, he always got nervous around her despite knowing her for years.

Niall would always tell Harry he couldn’t make a move because he didn’t want to ruin the friendship if she didn’t feel the same. His mind always got the best of him and talked him out of almost every decision. 

His vans crunched against the sounds of her seashell driveaway, his eyes were focused down staring at the beat-up, old sneakers he refused to get a replacement pair of. He didn’t even ring the doorbell, he’d been here so much that Kennedy’s family was used to Niall coming in unannounced, normally with a curly-headed lad by his side, and always raiding their refrigerator of all of their good food. 

“Kennedy?” He shouted into the house while walking straight into the kitchen. His nerves were immediately put to ease when he stepped into the house. Familiar settings always calmed him. Though, he figured his nerves would come right back the moment he was alone with the pretty red-head. 

“Upstairs, Ni!” She shouted back, Her voice was muffled between the floors in the small, Cape house, allowed for them to still be heard. 

He grabbed a few snacks from the pantry, along with the Coke bottle sitting in her fridge. It was half empty, but he didn’t really care. It was probably his from the last time he was here anyway. 

He hopped up the flight of stairs and headed to the end of the hallway. Kennedy’s bedroom door had a photograph of her, Niall, and Harry on it, the rest of the door decorated with random stickers she had collected over the years. 

Niall opened the door with his free hand, running in and tossing the snacks onto Kennedy’s bed. 

“Hi stinky, where ya parents at?” He asked, settling back down next to her on the bed. 

“At dinner with some friends,” she smiled back, immediately reaching for the chips and snatching the coke from the blonde boy’s hands. 

“Heyyyy,” he pouted jokingly, “just for that, I get to pick the movie we watch tonight.” Kennedy nodded at him, handing him the television remote. 

Niall put on one of his and Kennedy’s favorites. Just Go With It. Kennedy, and more specifically, Niall, we’re suckers for Adam Sandler movies. Despite their extremely cheesy plots and awful jokes, they couldn’t resist them. 

It was only 30 minutes into the movie when Kennedy said, in between shoving chips into her mouth, “God, I wish I was as pretty as Jennifer Aniston,” and she continued on watching the movie, not expecting a response, nor was she looking for one.

It was almost immediate, and he didn’t even think before answering. It was basically subconscious, and part of him didn’t realize he said it out loud until the deed was already done.

“You’re prettier,” he said, his cheeks immediately going flushed at the confession. He wanted to hide in his hoodie, fall completely into his own skin and never come out, because fuck, did he just ruin the friendship? 

“What?” Kennedy said, a blush also spreading across her own cheeks. 

“Oh god- I just made everything so weird, didn’t I? Wow, I am so sorry. Let’s pretend I didn’t say that, okay? Cool. That is extremely embarrassing, wow, okay. I am so-” Niall was cut off by Kennedy then.

“Ni, you’re rambling,” she said, trying to get him to stop the nervous gibbering he always did when he said something embarrassing or something he shouldn’t have, “It’s okay, Niall. Thank you… that actually means a lot,” she smiled. 

And God was she beautiful when she smiled, Niall thought. He could sit and watch her smile all the time, and it was even better when he was the reason for her smiles. A wave of confidence washed over him quickly, and quite unexpected. At that moment, he didn’t care about the friendship or making things awkward, he just wanted Kennedy. 

He leaned forward faster than he could think and within a few seconds, his lips were pressed up against hers. Nothing else mattered, nothing else existed. He felt like he was spinning, the world going in circles. 

Also, within the second, Niall felt Kennedy melt into this kiss herself. It was warm and soft and passionate all at once. Niall brought his hand up to her cheek, feeling the warmth of her fair skin against his hand. 

They both pulled away after a few moments, leaving their foreheads pressed together. Smiles spreading across their faces and butterflies in their stomachs. 

“So, does this mean-” Niall spoke up softly, being cut off by Kennedy’s honey-like voice. 

“Yes, Niall, I like you too.” 

  
  



	3. Asterscus

Long car rides were the worst, even without two sets of twins, an 11-year-old girl, and a 15-year-old girl. For Louis, it felt like the longest 4 hours and 27 minutes of his life. Desperately wanting to crawl back into a cocoon of blankets and drown out the sound of crying babies and whining 7-year-olds. 

He and Fizzy sat in the farthest row of the car watching episodes of Friends that Louis had made sure to download onto his laptop before the trip. 

Occasionally, looking out of the window and finding himself fall into a haze of his own thoughts. He had a feeling about this summer; that somehow this was gonna be one not to forget. Every minute closer to New Castle was a minute closer to hopefully making memories he could carry with him forever. 

The “Welcome to New Hampshire!” sign was oddly refreshing. It was a sign that he finally had a break from the chaos that was, Manhattan. It wasn’t long until they reached New Castle. The town was tiny. Smaller than he had expected. He knew the population was small but it was a crazy difference from what he had been used to. 

The town reminded him of Cape Cod; cute, beachy, and a place that would attract a slew of tourists. They passed through Main Street, it had adorable family owned shops, and restaurants Louis was dying to try already. 

They pulled up a long driveway that sat on a hill, as their car hiked up to the top, Louis spotted the house that he would be living in for the next three months. It was large and had huge white windows covering the front. The siding was weathered, giving it the classic beach style look that Jay had always been in love with. 

The entire family hopped out of the car and ran up to the house, Louis going around to the driver’s side of the car to grab the house key from Dan. 

“Hold on everybody. Bags first, then we can go in. Cmon, Louis you too.” She gestured to the bags they had strapped to the top of their car while grabbing the babies from their car seats. 

* * *

Louis flopped himself onto the soft mattress, feeling so at home. He huffed in a deep breath before pulling out his phone and texting the group chat. 

_ Louis: I made it!! _

_ Zayn: Please come home. Now. Please. I miss my loulou _

_ Brooklyn: I agree with Zayn _

_ Louis: not coming home. bite me _

_ Liam: aggressive there, little one _

_ Louis: I AM NOT LITTLE _

_ Gigi: whatever you say, mr. 5 foot 7 _

_ Louis: actually, im 5’9” _

_ Zayn: i’ve seen them measure you in gym class. you’re not 5’9”......... _

_ Louis: im leaving this groupchat _

Louis plugged his phone in before throwing his suitcases on top of the bed to begin unpacking them, when Jay walked in, “hey baby,” she smiled, heading over to the suitcases to help him unpack, folding all the clothes that he had balled up into the luggage. 

“Hi,” he continued throwing some of his clothes into the dresser drawers in the bedroom. Jay rolled her eyes at her less than organized son.

“So, Louis, I was thinking that after we all go for lunch today, maybe later tonight, you go out and explore the town. Maybe try and meet some kids your age.”

Louis only shrugged in response. He was good at making friends from home. But, that’s because he knew how people back in New York were. And even if he did embarrass himself, he’d probably never see those people again considering New York had enough people to the point where you’d probably only see the same person once. 

Whereas, if he made a fool of himself here, he’d see the same people every day until he went back home. 

So no, he wasn’t excited to go out and try to meet people- but he’d do it to get his mom off his back. 

* * *

**Serendipity [ser-uh n-dip-i-tee]** **_noun:_ ** **_the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way._ **

Harry was a big believer in serendipity. Often felt that the stars had something to do with it. Though, he wouldn’t dare to tell anyone that. He preferred keeping all his theories to himself; they were his, and it was a part of him no one got to have.

His head was nuzzled back into the grass, and he was staring up at the sky. Mentally mapping out each constellation and formation he could spot, and when he was done with that, he made shapes out of the stars and formed little stories in his head; his favourite story- the story he made about the mother who had died during childbirth, and her portrait was then mapped in the stars. Quite depressing, but there was something he liked about it.

He couldn’t remember when he became infatuated with the burning balls of gas in the sky, but he figured it was probably around the same time Robin died. 

Part of him thought that Robin was up there watching him from the stars, and sometimes he’d even talk to him. 

He was starting to doze off, his eyelids heavy, and this wasn’t the first time he had fallen asleep here. He allowed his eyelids to close softly, letting his mind go to ease when he was awoken by the snap of what seemed to be someone stepping on a stick. 

He jumped up quickly and turned around to see a small, caramel-haired boy staring back at him. 

The boy stepped over the stick he had just snapped and looked up at Harry, “Oh, I wasn’t expecting anyone to be back here,” he walked forward, noting Harry’s body language of him stepping back. 

“Neither did I…” he trailed off, clearly confused how someone, let alone someone he had never seen before in his life found this spot of his. 

The boy walked closer to where Harry was standing, and god was he beautiful. The glow of the moonlight was bouncing off of his features, the blue eyes, the cute button nose, and the jawline. Harry could sit and stare at him for hours, and the fluffy, soft hair certainly wasn’t helping his case- for all he knew this could be a serial killer. 

“Sorry, I- I uh, I’m new here. I was just wandering the town, found this path behind the lighthouse… and well, here I am.” His voice was even prettier. New York accent and all. For a serial killer, he was sure a pretty one. 

“New here?” Harry asked, frankly he understood the “new here”, but he just needed something to say to get the beautiful boy to speak again. 

“Yeah, uh,” he began, clearly a little nervous for no apparent reason, and extremely awkward, “My family just bought a summer house here,” he smiled, talking again, “I’m Louis, by the way.” 

And wow, what a pretty name to go with a pretty face.  _ Louis. Louis. Louis.  _ He liked the way it rolled off of Louis’ tongue, saying his own name. 

And a tourist? Harry hated tourists. But he figured he could get used to one looking like this. 

“ m’ Harry,” and shit, now the serial killer knew his name, “you’re not a serial killer, right?” Not his smoothest moment. 

Louis laughed, smiling up at the curly-headed boy, “No!” he protested, “or maybe that’s just what I want you to think,” he smirked. Harry rolled his eyes at the boy. 

“That’s reassuring.”

“What do you think this is? An episode of Criminal Minds?” 

Harry shot his head up at the name of his favorite show.

“You watch Criminal Minds?!” He asked, definitely over-excited about the idea of this beautiful boy in front of him also watching the show. 

Louis nodded his head, “here and there. Guess you could say I’m a fan of Spencer Reid,” he winked. 

Oh- does that- is he- yes, he likes boys, and if that wasn’t a not so subtle hint then he wasn’t sure what was. 

“Me too,” he smiled. 

* * *

Okay, maybe Harry let the beautiful boy sit there with him. And maybe, it was because he was beautiful. Anyone else, he probably would’ve left himself or politely hinted at the idea of them leaving. 

But for the beautiful boy with the New York accent- he could stay. 

“So, what’s it like in New York?” Harry asked, looking over at Louis. Taking in his clear skin and the way it glowed under the light that the moon gave off. 

“Accent that strong, huh?” Louis laughed. 

“I’d say so. Could tell the second you opened your mouth. Hopefully, you’re not as angry as New Yorkers come.” A shitty joke, but it made himself laugh- much like all the jokes he tended to make. Kennedy told him it was annoying, but Harry insisted it gave him character. (It didn’t). 

“We’re not  _ that _ angry- well, fine, when we drive we are, but we’re not as bad as Massachusetts drivers,” Louis defended. 

“Agree to disagree.”

They sat and talked like that for three hours. Getting to know more about one another with every sentence. Sitting beneath each twinkling star, they talked and talked until Louis looked at the time, knowing his mother probably figured he was dead in a ditch somewhere, despite the fact that New Castle didn’t even have any ditches. 

Louis stood up from the spot he had taken over on the ground, knowing he’d never get the stupid grass stains off of his new pants. 

“Well, it was nice to meet you, Harry. I’ll uh- I’ll see you around,” he smiled. 

And that’s how he found himself waving goodbye to the pretty boy he had met on that warm summer night, under the stars, in New Castle, New Hampshire.

* * *

It was just inching past 2 in the morning when Harry arrived home. His mother probably thought he was at Niall’s up until this point, and he was hoping that she was sound asleep in bed to avoid the stern talking he would probably get for returning so late and not just saying with Niall or Kennedy. 

He walked into his house, expecting all the lights to be off and his mother to be in bed. His sister was staying in France for the summer with her friends from college- so he was used to coming home to the quiet, practically empty house.

“Where were you?” He heard his mother’s voice as he attempted to tiptoe up to his room. He stopped in his tracks and turned around, praying to his lucky stars that she’s let him off this time. 

“At my spot.” He said calmly, knowing that if he tried to lie and say he was at Niall’s it would get him nowhere. She only nodded, telling him to not stay out so late again. 

Harry fell back into his bed, thinking about Louis, saying his name over and over again in his head. He pulled out his phone and clicked on the group facetime call with his friends. 

“You will never believe what just happened?” Harry said excitedly the second they answered the phone. 

“A ‘Hi” to start would’ve been nice,” said Niall, sparking a giggle from Harry. 

“Yeah yeah, whatever, like I said- you will  _ never  _ believe what just happened.”

“Well, go on, tell us then,” Kennedy sat waiting.

“So I was out at my spot, and all of a sudden I hear something, I turn around and it ends up being the most attractive guy I have ever seen,” Harry was cut off by Niall then.

* * *

“More attractive than Chris Hemsworth?”

“ _ Wayyyyy  _ more attractive. Anyways, let me continue. So, I let him sit and we ended up talking for hours. He’s new to the town, he’s spending his first summer here, and he lives in New York City.”

“Well did you get his number?” Kennedy asked. 

“No….” 

Harry wasn’t always one to be asked for his number. So, he wasn’t all that surprised when Louis didn’t ask for it. 

He had been on dates before, sure, but nothing that ever lasted longer than just one or two dates. 

He’d even been stood up before. His name was Jake and he was the captain of the hockey team. Blonde hair, green eyes, and raging muscles, he was one of those guys that constantly worked out at the only gym in town and would take those ridiculously cringe photos in the gym mirrors. 

And despite that; Harry still had a stupid crush on him. So when he was asked out after Jake saw him at the coffee shop; he had to say yes. 

He wasn’t expecting it to turn out to all just be a stupid practical joke when the blonde boy didn’t show up to the diner after 3 hours of waiting. 

“Of course you didn’t. Not gonna get anywhere with anyone Haz, unless you grow a vagina and get someone’s number or ask them out.” 

Niall was right. He really wasn’t gonna get anywhere just sitting back and being too scared to make any advances on boys. But- to be fair, not many gay kids lived in New Castle. Genuinely 

* * *

Louis unlocked the door to his house, nothing but the outdoor porchlight on to guide his way up the walkway. 

He clicked the door shut behind him before tossing his keys on the side table in the entryway. He looked up to see Lottie staring at him. 

“Lottie, what are you doing?” He asked, toeing his shoes off and throwing his jacket on the coat rack. Lottie was always the inquisitive one of his siblings. It may have been due to the fact that she was the second oldest and seemed to just sit and observe everyone around her. 

This evening, she clearly knew Louis was with someone, considering the smug look on her face.

“Who were you withhh?” She drew out the last word, a smile growing on her face as she followed her older brother into the kitchen where he pulled out a few random snacks from the cabinet- and at this moment he couldn’t have been more grateful his mother had gone shopping.

Louis rolled his eyes. Because really it was nothing. He wasn’t doing what Lottie had suspected, he was just talking. With a new friend. A bro pal new friend. Who was so so cute, and pretty, and stupidly dorky which made Louis smile. But no, it was just talking with some random kid. 

“I wasn’t  _ with  _ anyone,” Louis muttered as he grabbed a water bottle from the fridge before shutting it with his foot, snacks piled up in his arms. 

“But you were, I can tell. What’s her name? Is she pretty? Damn, Louisa, we’ve been here a day and you’ve already got a girlfriend,” she teased. Of course, adding on the stupid nickname she had been calling him since she was five. He hated it. But he wasn’t sure which he hated more; the nickname or the nagging. 

“I definitely do  _ not  _ have a girlfriend,” first of all he’d have to be interested in women for that, “And I thought I told you to stop calling me that,  _ Charlie. _ ” And Lottie hated that nickname. Seems as though they were even. 

Lottie was following him up the stairs into his room, rolling her eyes. Louis always pulled out that nickname whenever he was annoyed and wanting to ring the little kid from his shadow.

She was like a tick, latching onto Louis and never leaving him alone. He wanted to flick her away. 

“I know you did not just call me that.”

“I did. Now leave me alone,” Louis shut his door behind him, he collapsed onto his bed. He put down all his snacks before snaking off all his clothing and letting it fall into a pile next to his bed.

He turned on the tv, quickly throwing on another episode of criminal minds. 

Louis pressed his head against his pillow, letting his mind drift back into the memory of the night. 

The soft, bouncy brown curls, the bright green eyes, manly features that took over his face; the jawline, sharp cheekbones, and mysterious angle his eyes rested at. Louis couldn’t deny the boy was simply perfect. 

  
  



	4. Astralis

“Oh my god, you’re so embarrassing!” Kennedy muttered, hand over her face as she watched Harry and Niall dance and sing along to Grease. 

It was their weekly movie night and Niall had practically begged for Grease to be on tonight. He said that if anyone was Danny Zuko it would be him. Even though everyone knew he was more of Kenickie. 

Harry thought to himself that the boy, Louis, he had met last week would make a good Danny Zuko. He brushed off the thought quickly. Wasn’t like he’d see the kid again. Even if he so badly wanted to.

“Oh c’mon, Ken. You love it,” Niall teased. 

“I most certainly do not, how many more movie nights until I can pick one?” She really couldn’t remember the last time she got to pick the movie of choice. Niall almost always vetoed every movie she suggested. 

“We don’t let you pick, because you always pick Hamilton. We can’t watch Hamilton anymore. Plus after we watch it, you start quoting the entire thing.” Harry added shrugging. Continuing to mindlessly focus on the musical on the screen. 

“...... THE REYNOLDS PAMPHLET!” Kennedy yelled out. 

“Oh my god… you’re lucky you’re pretty,” Niall laughed as he fell back into the couch, wrapping an arm around his girlfriend, “cause you’re pretty god damn annoying,” he giggled, Kennedy punching his arm before then leaning in to kiss him. 

“Ew. Ew. Ew.  _ Ew. _ ” Harry muttered, grossed out by his friends’ PDA. Really he didn’t mind all that much. He was just jealous. 

“Boohoo, H, you’re just jealous,” Niall stuck his tongue out at his best friend. 

“Just because you’re not wrong, doesn’t mean you can call me out for it.” 

* * *

Louis had his phone tucked between his legs under the table, careful for his mother not to see him scrolling through Twitter. 

He continued shoving down bites of his chicken when his phone buzzed on his lap, he looked down to see a text from Zayn in the group chat.

_ Zayn: Who’s the girl? _

_ Louis: What? _

_ Zayn: Lottie told me you were with a girl last week. well she asked if we knew who it was.  _

_ Liam: she hot? _

_ Brooklyn: seriously liam _

_ Liam: oopsies <3 _

_ Gigi: Louis spill _

_ Louis: oh my fucking god _

_ Zayn: so there is someone _

_ Brooklyn: i knew it _

_ Louis: FINE _

_ Louis: yeah i did meet someone. but they are just a friend met them while wandering town _

Louis couldn’t yet tell them it wasn't a girl. Because he was certain Lottie definitely informed them on how smitten he was when he arrived home that night. Had to keep the cat in the bag with the information that he was so smitten because of a boy. 

_ Liam: whats her name _

_ Gigi: tell us what she looks like _

She. Her. She. Her. God he hated heteronormativity. They just assumed. Not just them, but everyone. 

Before he could answer, Jay was standing up behind him and grabbing the phone from his hands, placing it gently on the counter. “Not while we’re at the table, Louis. You know the rules.” 

The rest of dinner he only had one thought twisting in his mind. He had to get it out to someone. It felt like a ball of something, he wasn’t sure what, but something he needed to get out- even to one person. 

After they ate, and Louis washed the dishes, he had never run to his room so fast, his phone gripped tightly in his hands. 

He typed out the text mindlessly. He closed his eyes, debating whether or not to hit send. He allowed his finger to hover over the small blue button, tapping it quickly before talking himself out of it. 

_ Louis: hey brookie, can i talk to u?  _

If he ended up not wanting to tell her, he could easily come up with another excuse as to why he needed to talk- he wondered why he was so nervous if he could easily back out. 

Maybe it was because he knew that he wanted to tell her. 

It only took 2 minutes and 47 seconds for Brooklyn to answer. Louis totally wasn’t counting. 

_ Brooklyn: Of course Loulou. Everything okay? _

Now, what to say. How to say it. If he should say it. 

He let his nimble, shaky fingers type out the sentence. 

_ Louis: i need to tell someone. And i trust you, not that i don't trust the others its just, i know you’re bi and brooklyn _

He waited another second before typing the next words.

_ Louis: im gay _

It felt like he was holding two buckets of water on his shoulders and he finally put them down. Finally given a break from carrying the weight of the water. 

But fuck, now he had to wait for Brooklyn’s response. He sat on the end of his bed staring at the string that was pulled from his running shorts. His eyes hyper focusing on the grey string that was hanging down a few inches, curling at the end. 

His phone buzzed. 

_ Brooklyn: I’m so fucking proud of you. God, Lou I love you so much. I’m proud of you for telling me.  _

And honestly, he expected nothing less from Brooklyn. 

_ Louis: the person i met. it’s a boy. his name is harry. _

_ Brooklyn: I figured. If you haven’t forgotten, I can read you like a book.  _

_ Louis: he’s pretty _

_ Brooklyn: good. You deserve someone pretty.  _

This is why Brooklyn was always his favorite, (but shh, don’t tell Zayn that, he’ll get sad.) She was easy to talk to, she was lighthearted, and she was possibly the sweetest human being ever. She only ever wanted to make people smile. And she did. 

_ Brooklyn: Lou? If you don’t mind me asking, why don’t you wanna tell the others? You don’t have to answer, I’m just curious.  _

_ Louis: just scared to. Idk don’t want them to look at me differently. Zayn and Li have known me my entire life, they’ve always known me as, well to put it simply, the straight me. I just don't want them to think I’m someone else. _

_ Brooklyn: I understand completely babes. No pressure. But trust me, they’ll love you no matter what ;). Do what makes you happy.  _

And with that. Louis was out to one of his friends. He knew that if he didn’t tell someone about the pretty boy he met, he’d probably explode. And, to be quite honest, he was surprised he could hold it in this long. 

Lottie knocked on his door before barging in. At that point, knocking was pointless. 

“Lottie! Stop barging in. What if-” he paused, “what if I was jacking off!”

Lottie’s eyes went wide, “I’m severely uncomfortable with the energy you’ve brought to the studio today,” she walked and sat next to Louis on his bed, “so, I was wondering, maybe, just maybe, you’d take me to the beach tomorrow?”

“Why can’t Mom and Dan take you?” Louis turned on his telly, planning on completely tuning out his little sister. 

“They’re taking the twins and the babies to the park. So Fizz and I were gonna see if you’d, our  _ most amazing, lovely, dashing, hilarious,-” _

“Land the plane.”

“Pleaseeeee take us to the beach. Maybe there will be pretty girls for you.” She batted her eyelashes and flashed her big, blue, Tomlinson eyes. 

Louis rolled his eyes before agreeing, “but get out of my room, now.” He added afterward. Lottie pressed a kiss to her brother’s cheek before skipping down the hallway yelling for Felicite. 

The next morning, Louis was awoken by Felicite poking at him to get up. He groaned and rolled over, mindlessly begging for “five more minutes,” until she grabbed the end of Louis’s favorite blanket and ripped it off of him.

“I. Hate. You,” he mumbled, trying to warm himself with his arms. 

“Lou, get up. It’s 9 am, and me and Lotts want to get to the beach by 10.” She went to his dresser before opening a few of the drawers until she found what she was looking for. She tossed him a pair of royal blue swim trunks, and grabbed a tshirt for him from his hamper. 

“Here, put these on, and brush your teeth. Your breath smells.” She walked out of Louis’ room, her sass prompting him to secretly wish he had another brother- preferably one that wasn’t still a baby. 

He hopped out of bed, stretching his arms above his head. Stretching in the morning always felt nice. The tight pull on your shoulder and leg muscles, slowly bringing you out from the deep slumber, Louis loved it. 

He grabbed the swim shorts his sister had thrown onto the end of his bed, along with the old t-shirt that he had stolen from Liam when they were 14. 

Downstairs, his sisters were in the kitchen packing their beach bags with tanning lotion and bottles of ice tea- their bags overflowing with random crap that Louis was sure they didn’t need. 

He opened his phone to a text from Brooklyn, making him smile stupidly.

_ Brooklyn: find harry and get his number ;) Also, I wanna see a picture of him. Either you find his Instagram or i will….  _

He laughed to himself before typing out a response. 

_ Louis: if someone didn’t know you, they’d think you’re a sociopath _

_ Brooklyn: ask Liam- I am one. _

Louis let out a laugh before clicking his phone off and handing it to Lottie to shove into her beach bag.

Truthfully, he did regret not asking for the beautiful boy’s number. He was just nervous to do so, and it may have been due to the fact that he was ridiculously attracted to him and his stomach was doing some weird twisty thing that he certainly wasn’t prepared to handle. He hadn’t gotten that feeling before.

Louis’s brain was flashing with the events from that night, that weird twisty stomach feeling coming back. Deep down he was sort of hoping he saw the pretty boy at the beach, even just to get a glimpse of him one more time.

And maybe if Brooklyn convinced him enough- he’d ask for his number. 

* * *

His back was laying on the colorful beach towel that Lottie brought for him, he let his arms fall outwards so his skin could kiss the hot, burning sand beneath him. He grazed his fingertips in the grains and allowed his pointer finger to draw small circles. 

Louis kept his eyelids held shut, careful not to open them, and let the sun blind him half to death. And despite the gossiping teenage girls next to him, he couldn’t have ever felt more at peace. 

That is until an obnoxiously loud, blonde boy comes falling on top of him in a terrible attempt at catching a football. I mean, if you couldn’t catch the damn thing, definitely don’t try and play it on the beach, 

Louis immediately pushed the lump of blonde off, shooting up from his previously relaxed position to shout back at the kid on top of him. 

“Hey! Watch it!” Louis shouted at him, brushing all the excess sand off of him. 

A boy in yellow swim shorts began running over, probably the kid who threw the football, Louis didn’t bother to pay much attention to him. 

“Wow, I am so sorry, dude. Didn’t mean that, blame my boy here. Can’t throw a football to save his life,” Niall laughed looking over to his friend. 

Louis looked up as he was saying an “it’s fine,” to meet those same beautiful green eyes he had seen the week before, “Harry?” He meant to phrase it like a statement. Harry. That is Harry. But it came out more like a question. 

“Just my luck,” Harry giggled. God, that beautiful, beautiful giggle. It was something you’d hear when entering the gates of heaven, Louis thought. He better keep that to himself, “I’m so sorry, Louis,  _ we’re  _ so sorry,” Harry threw his arm around Niall and smiled, hoping that his sincere apology and innocent smile will keep the pretty blue-eyed boy from being mad at him and his friend.

Louis took one look at Harry and the blonde boy- oh.  _ Oh.  _ That’s what that is. Louis is glad he at least saved himself the embarrassment of asking for Harry’s number back at their night under the stars- saved himself the rejection. He was glad he didn’t have to hear the words,  _ Sorry I have a boyfriend.  _

“All good, see ya around,” Louis half-smiled. Ya know, one of those smiles where you kind of hate your life but also you can’t beat yourself up too much because I mean there are bigger things in the world than the boy you don’t even know that well having a boyfriend. So yeah, it was one of those half-smiles. 

* * *

Harry was expecting more. Expecting more from Louis. He figured maybe Louis wasn’t thinking the same thing he was. He shrugged it off, trying not to let it get to him too much, waved goodbye, and continued throwing around the football with Niall, except now he couldn’t stop himself from glancing over at Louis between each throw and catch. 

“Ya good, Hazzy?” Niall asked, clutching the football close to his abdomen after he just caught it, prepping it in his hands to spiral it back over to his curly-headed friend. 

“Yeah. Guess I just thought maybe there was more of a connection when I met him last week…” he trailed off, annoyed at just saying the words. 

Niall glanced at Harry then turned his shoulder to look at Louis, who now was texting away on his phone, “And what makes you say he isn’t?” 

“He was weird. I don’t know. Said goodbye like it was nothing.”

“To be fair, H, you only met him once. You don’t know him  _ that _ well, you don’t know what’s going on in his mind.” 

True. he doesn’t know what the pretty boy is thinking- but,  _ but,  _ to be fair he was pretty good at reading people! At least that’s what he told himself and Niall. 

“Yeah, whatever. Not a big deal.” He shrugged and tossed the ball one more time, barely paying attention to what direction he was throwing it- his eyes too focused on the boy laying in the sand. 

* * *

“Uh, Lou- who was that?” Lottie asked confused, “whoever he is, he is  _ hot. _ ” Lottie was nearly drooling over the boy- and Louis didn’t blame him, cause-  _ fuck was he hot. And beautiful, and sexy, and adorable and- _

“Yeah, he is,” Fizzy cut off Louis’ trailing thoughts. 

“Really, guys?” Louis rolled his eyes, he had to quickly come up with a lie, because there was no way in hell he was gonna tell them that this was the alleged “girl” he met last week, wasn’t gonna have his blabbermouth sisters tell his friends and parents, despite how much he trusted them, “Just met him last week, bumped into him on my way out of the grocery store.” 

Okay, yeah, that’s believable enough. Right? Yeah. Bumped into him. Got to chatting. Went on their way. 

“Well, he is so hot. He single you think?” 

“I don’t know, Lotts,” He groaned, “I don’t know the kid that well.” 

Lottie shrugged and turned over, continuing to talk with her sister while Louis pulled out his phone. Ugh, this outta be good. 

_ Louis: I think pretty boy harry has a boyfriend _

_ Louis: kill me _

_ Louis: like seriously _

_ Louis: this sucks _

_ Brooklyn: What makes you say that? _

_ Louis: saw him at the beach. his ~boyfriend~ fell into me trying to catch a football _

_ Brooklyn: Did he introduce him to you as his boyfriend?  _

_ Louis: no……………. _

_ Louis: BUT HE HAD HIS ARM AROUND HIS SHOULDER _

_ Brooklyn: You are ridiculous. You do that with Z and Liam! Ok like was it arm around him like a “hey this is my boyfriend” or arm around him like “hey this is my bro pal homie dude” _

_ Louis: no comment _

_ Brooklyn: LOUIS _

_ Brooklyn: you are being dramatic. So go up to him, and aSK FOR HIS NUMBER! _

_ Louis: absolutely not. He might reject me _

_ Brooklyn: you had no problem asking for girls’ numbers at home. _

_ Louis: that’s different. I knew it wouldn't go anywhere because they lacked a penis _

_ Brooklyn: okay right… while you wallow in self-pity, I’ve got plans with Gigi. Talk to ya later Lou x _

Okay, so maybe he could admit that he may have misread the situation, especially considering that Niall boy he was with was ridiculously heterosexual, Louis could tell, but besides the point, he still wasn’t going to ask for Harry’s number. Not now at least. 

If he really was meant to see Harry again, he would, right? Gigi had told him once about fate and shit. Was it called fate? He couldn’t remember. For now, he was planning on sticking his body back against the sand and jumping into the pretty, blue water once the sweat started pooling on his stomach. 

  
  



	5. Astrifer

Harry loved his job- he worked at the only coffee shop in town. New Castle Coffee and Pastries was the place you would run into basically everyone you knew. Everyone was a regular there, and Harry nearly memorized almost everyone’s orders by now. 

He started there when he was 14 years old when it was just the owner, Mrs. Williams, and her husband working there. He loved that tiny little shop. Mrs. Williams and her adorable little accent- she was from Scotland, and her husband who was about 7 feet tall but an absolute teddy bear, were the best bosses to work under. 

Last year, when Mr. Williams died, they needed some extra help in the shop- Harry working weekends during the school year and every other day during the summer, just wasn’t cutting it. Harry convinced Mrs. Williams to hire Kennedy to work with them, and Kennedy ending up convincing her to employ, Ava, another friend of theirs. 

Going to work now was less of a chore, but more so just another chance for him to dance around the shop listening to Clairo and making lattes for the people in town. 

It was a slower day this particular morning. Another week had gone by since Niall quite literally ran into Louis at the beach, and he still couldn’t shake him from his head. No matter how many iced almond milk lattes he made, he couldn’t get rid of the image of the perfectly sculpted cheekbones in his mind. 

“Whatcha thinking about?” Kennedy asked as she placed a few cleaned coffee cups into the cabinet.

“Nothin’ important,” no one was in the shop except for this one older woman and her best friend drinking tea in the corner and sharing a pastry. And whenever the shop was empty, Kennedy, Harry, and Ava took it as an opportunity to get all of their latest gossips out. 

“Hey, Harry?” Kennedy asks, Harry turning his head and perking his ears up giving her the signal he was paying attention, “Did you know you’re the worst liar ever?” She smirked, Harry immediately flipping her off. 

“No but seriously, Haz, give us something. I’m bored. Nothing happens in this town. And Niall is no fun.” She sat at the stool that was behind the counter poking at Harry who was cleaning. 

“ _ Ugh fine,  _ fine. I mean, ya remember Louis? That guy I met a couple of weeks back?”

Both Kennedy and Ava nodded in unison. 

“Well, I don’t know- there was just  _ something _ about him. I can’t put my finger on it. Like I was meant to meet him.” Harry trailed off. 

Ava walked over to Harry and put her hand on his shoulder before mouthing, “you’re hopeless.” 

And maybe, yeah, Harry was hopeless. In more ways than one. 

For starters, a total hopeless romantic. He wanted a great love, a perfect one, really. Wanted to go out on all kinds of dates and kiss under the stars. Along with being a hopeless romantic, he was just so utterly hopeless when Kennedy, Ava, and Niall wanted to shake him off the idea that everything was up to fate. It was serendipitous. 

“Haz, you gotta chill with that ‘ _ meant to be’  _ stuff, ‘s getting ya nowhere.” 

But really, fate had to be real. Everything had to happen for a reason. And the stars told stories. Harry was convinced of it. 

“Whatever you guys. I’m telling you- something is happening, it has to be. I can just  _ feel  _ it.” In response to that, Kennedy wound her pointer finger in a circle next to her head, signaling to Ava that Harry had just gone completely crazy. 

The bell to the shop door rang at that moment, and well, as fate would have it- in walked Louis. He walked in like he owned the place, he was standing up straight, taking long strides and it gave the allusion that he was taller than he really was. 

Serendipity. It was truly, completely, and utterly serendipitous. 

He was looking around the shop, taking in the vintage decorations and the uneven lanterns hanging above certain tables in the cafe. He looked breathtaking- he was wearing a pair of khaki pants that he had cuffed at the ankle, navy blue converse and a grey t-shirt. His hair was fluffy and soft, and it looked like he had only woken up 15 minutes before, yet somehow he still pulled it off. 

He took one look at the people behind the counter and his eyes immediately caught Harry's. 

He smiled at him, a subconscious smile but it was soft and sweet- and it made Harry’s cheeks blush ridiculously quickly. 

Harry nudged Kennedy with his elbow and tried to get her to take his order. He was too nervous himself to do it. But knowing Kennedy, she would hold Harry at knifepoint if it meant Harry was taking this kid’s order. 

He sheepishly walked to the pastry counter, leaning on top of it as Louis approached.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were stalking me, Harry.”  _ Smartass.  _

Harry smirked, “could say the same for you.” 

The pretty boy smiled back at him before glancing up at the chalkboard menu hanging above him.

“What do you recommend?” Louis knew what he wanted. He always got the same thing at every coffee shop he went to. A large, chai, oat milk latte. Been drinking it since he was 14- but he wanted an excuse to talk to Harry longer. 

“I make a pretty good cappuccino,” Harry smiled.

“Do ya now?” Louis didn’t seem so sure, “Well since you speak so highly of it, I’ll have to give it a shot.” 

Guess today would be the day he had something other than his chai latte. 

“Comin right up,” Harry turned to Ava and asked her to grab him a coffee cup before looking back at the boy in front of him, “anything else for you today?” He smiled. 

And well, Louis couldn’t resist that smile. 

“Chocolate chip muffin,” Louis replied, looking into the case. 

Harry’s face lit up before smiling at him, cheeks perky with blush, “Those are my favorite.”

“Mine too.” 

Harry turned and began making the cappuccino after he grabbed the muffin from the case and placed it on a small dessert plate. Both Kennedy and Ava were glancing back and forth between the two boys, giggling and whispering to each other. 

Harry placed the two items in front of Louis on the counter, the mismatched cup and plate immediately causing Louis to love this small cafe already. He liked how the uniqueness was shown even in each dish. 

“How much?” Louis asked beginning to pull his wallet out from his back pocket. Louis had a thing for wallets- ever since he was little he liked having a wallet on him, it made him feel grown. Like he held some importance in the brown leather wallet.

Harry shook his head, “None. On the house,” no one had to know. And if Mrs. Williams even cared, which he knew she didn’t, he could just tell her to take it out of his paycheck.

Louis smiled and grabbed his dishes, but before he could walk away, Kennedy, or as Harry liked to call her in this exact moment- the biggest douchebag to walk this earth- decided to cut in and say “Hazzy poo, aren’t ya gonna introduce us to your friend.”

Louis laughed before adding, “Aww yeah, Hazzy poo _ ,  _ I’d love to be introduced.”

Harry turned to Kennedy and mumbled a soft,  _ I hate you. _ Before turning back around and forcing a smile, “Sure…”

He pulled Ava and Kennedy’s arms so they’d be close next to him, “So, Louis, this is Ava,” shoving the dark-haired girl in front of him. She was pretty, gorgeous even. Dark brown hair, brown skin, and some of the prettiest eyes ever. 

“Hi,” Louis waved, silently laughing at the embarrassment he knew this was causing Harry- mainly cause he could read it all over Harry’s face. 

“And  _ this  _ unique character is Kennedy,” she waved proudly at Louis, “Kennedy is Niall’s girlfriend too. The one who ran into you with the football,” she said hi to Louis while sporting the biggest smile ever, knowing she embarrassed the fuck out of her best friend. 

And oh…. Niall’s girlfriend. Okay, yeah, that makes sense. Now Louis knows he was being a complete idiot, which was already pointed out to him by Brooklyn, but now it was just confirmed. 

“Nice to meet you both,” Louis smiled at them before looking right into Harry’s green eyes, “Thanks for the drink and muffin,” he winked at him before turning and plopping himself down at a small corner table that was almost hidden from the rest of the shop but in direct eye line of the counter. After all, he had to stare at the cute boy who took his order. 

Louis sat facing directly at them, he’d occasionally glance up to stare at him, pretending he was just looking around every time he got caught. He thought he was playing it off pretty well. 

_ Louis: dude something weird is happening _

1 minute and 3 seconds for her to answer. 

_ Brooklyn: What now?  _

_ Louis: so i decided to be bold today, i didn’t feel like having breakfast at home with the fam, and i really wanted coffee. and not the shit coffee my mom makes. but like the good stuff. so i went to the only cafe in town and guess who’s working?????????? _

_ Brooklyn: hmmmm…. Stone Cold Steve Austin?! _

_ Louis: gigi is my favorite… _

_ Brooklyn: doubt it. But it wasn’t Stone Cold Steve Austin? _

_ Louis: FUCKIN HARRY. HARRY. I swear he’s everywhere. Must be stalking me little shit _

_ Brooklyn: or maybe you’re stalking him _

_ Brooklyn:or maybe! You’re in a tiny ass town with like 12 people and you’re bound to run into him everywhere because you’re the first person to visit this town in the last 20 years _

_ Louis: please don’t yell at me _

_ Brooklyn: Go get his number _

_ Louis: no :) _

“Harry, he’s fuckin hot. I mean, I know you said he was attractive but I didn’t think- well,  _ that. _ ” Ava whispered not trying to draw attention to them. 

“Hey, he’s mine,” Harry smiled, glancing over to the boy by the window and accidentally making eye contact. A blush grew across his cheeks and he felt hot. 

“Simp,” Kennedy whispered under her breath. 

“Heard that.”

“That was kind of the point. And if he keeps looking over here, I’m gonna go up to him myself and get his number for you.” 

Harry shrugged and looked over to Louis- maybe running into him again was meant to be? 

It was an hour and 17 minutes later when Louis finally got up from his table, sweeping the crumbs from the table into his hand and putting them back onto the small dessert plate. He carried the dishes over to the counter to return them, smiling up at Harry. 

“You were right, you do make a good cappuccino,” he smiled, “got good muffins too.”

“Glad you like the muffins, I made this batch,” His voice was almost proud of his batch of muffins that Mrs. Williams let him bake, he always loved baking, and when Mrs. Williams said he could start making pastries for them. It was like his dreams come true. 

“A baker, too? What can’t you do, Harold?” He smiled. 

Harry hated when people called him Harold. Made him roll his eyes and wince at hearing it roll off of people’s tongues. But Louis? God, Harry suddenly loved the name, Harold. Might even legally change his name to it. Get on his hands and knees and beg for Louis to call him that all the time. 

“It’s just Harry.”

“Whatever you say, Harold,” he winked. And Louis slid a napkin across the counter to the boy before turning on his heel and walking out before anything embarrassing could happen. 

Harry looked down at the napkin, lifting it slightly to show his friends. 

_ 603-128-0928 text me -Louis Tomlinson  _ was written messily on the white paper napkin.

Harry neatly folded the napkin up and pushed it into his back pocket. He was itching to grab his phone from the back room and text him right then, and he almost did except he’d feel too guilty using his phone during work. Even though Mrs. Williams said it was completely fine, he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

Louis would just have to wait. 

* * *

“You were out for a while,” Jay was cleaning up the twins while telling Phoebe and Daisy they could go watch tv in the family room. She was happy to see Louis getting out, though. She knew he missed his friends and wasn’t used to such a change of scenery- so knowing he was getting out and not staying locked in the house always put a smile on her face. 

“Yeah, just at the coffee shop. Liked it there.” He smiled. 

Yes, he loved the energy there; the calming atmosphere, the vintage decorations, and the mason jar lanterns hanging from the ceiling. But he also just loved to watch the boy behind the counter make coffee orders and laugh with his coworkers. 

“Might have to check it out,” her voice soft and sweet as she pressed a kiss to her eldest son’s cheek, “Wanna go to the movies with all of us later?”

He nodded before heading off to his room to text Brooklyn. 

_ Louis: I did it.  _

_ Louis: be proud _

_ Louis: my homosexual adventure is officially beginning! _

_ Louis: unless he doesn’t text me _

_ Brooklyn: WAIT!! YOU DID IT _

_ Louis: gave him my number on a napkin. Just like those shitty romcoms you and liam make me watch :) _

_ Brooklyn: I thought you liked those shitty romcoms  _

_ Louis: i hate them. Hence my use of the word “shitty” _

_ Brooklyn: just for that i hope he doesn’t text you _

_ Louis: i'm gonna sit and stare at my phone until he texts me _

_ Brooklyn: fan behavior _

_ Louis: i mean- yeah <3 _

* * *

For some reason that was completely over Harry’s head, he couldn’t bring himself to text the boy. Perhaps it was from the long history of bad dates and no action from anyone.

The sky was black and the small specs of light were in small clusters above him, it was oddly calming for him to lay there in complete silence and stare up at the stars. 

If only he wasn’t with Niall because silence didn’t exist when he was your best friend. 

“Harryyyyyy can we please do something?” The blonde whined already irritated after only laying outside on the hammock for 2 minutes. 

“Ni, I need help. What do I say to Louis? What do I text him?” He rolled over and looked at Niall who was rolling his eyes, “Oh my god- what if he only wants to be friends?!” 

Hopeless that boy was. And Niall so desperately wanted to slap him upside the head and tell him that it truly isn’t that difficult to send someone a text message. 

“Hazzy, Hazzy, Hazzy, you’re thinking too far into it, just say ‘hi it’s Harry’. Also, he wouldn’t have asked for your number, trust me on that. Kennedy told me everything that happened at the coffee shop yesterday and that dude is already whipped as fuck.”

“Okay fine, fine. I’ll just do it.”

Harry jumped from the hammock almost causing Niall to flip over in it and he ran up to the deck and through the slider door to go grab his phone that he left in Niall’s room. He jogged back outside and sat on the ground next to the hammock, grabbing Ni’s arm and pulling him down onto the grass with him. 

Harry had the napkin folded up in his hand, which he made sure to grab it from his backpack while he got his phone. He opened it up and passed it to Niall, “read the number off for me as I type it.” 

He typed the phone number into the message box before pondering what to say. 

* * *

“He hasn’t texted. I left my phone number, AND FOR WHAT?” Louis said into the facetime call, “I honestly feel a bit dramatic just sitting around waiting for him to text me but I swear to god if he doesn’t text me right this instant I’m gonna throw my phone out the window.”

Louis wasn’t one to sit around and wait. Normally he was the one making others wait, which now he realized makes you feel like shit. He was restless the last 37 hours, he was constantly checking his phone under the dinner table or when he went to the movies he ran off to the bathroom about 20 times to see if he had a text message- he was pretty sure his mom thought he had a bladder issue. 

“Lou, he’s gonna text. Just give it time, don’t sit around and wait.” Brooklyn responded. Louis almost hated how optimistic she was about everything, much like Harry was; from what he could tell at least. They’d get along great, he thought. 

“Rich of you to say. I remember when you gave Timothee your number freshman year and you sat around,  _ just like this _ waiting for him to call and ask you out.” 

Louis wasn’t lying. When Brooklyn was trying to get over her crush on Liam because she didn’t think he liked her back- she decided to give her number to the pretty new boy who spoke French. Needless to say, she backed out on the date because she couldn’t stop wishing he was Liam. But, still, she had absolutely no room to judge Louis in this scenario. 

“We do  _ not  _ speak of that, Louis. Just wait. Let’s talk about something else. Get your mind off of it,” she paused trying to find something to talk about, “Oh! We forgot to ask you, so for Liam’s birthday in August, do you think you could maybe come home early? Pretty please. We wanted to take a weekend trip to Boston.”

He was scheduled to come home on the 7th of September, just a day before the new school year began, but he was sure he could convince his mom and Dan to let him leave 10 days early. I mean that’s nothing. 

“I’ll convince mom. Sure she’ll say yes. She’d feel too bad if I missed Liam’s 18th.”

They rambled on like that for another hour before Louis freaked out and cut off Brooklyn in the middle of a sentence to announce that he just got a text. 

“BROOKLYN HE TEXTED,” in any other circumstance where he cut her off she would’ve yelled at him to choke on a dick, but she was equally as excited for him. 

_ Unknown Number: Hi Louis, it’s Harry _

_ Unknown Number: Styles _

_ Unknown Number: Harry Styles from the coffee shop _

_ Unknown Number: And the stargazing. And beach.  _

_ Unknown Number: Oh god I’m rambling, I’m so sorry.  _

“Holy fuck, B, he’s adorably stupid. Harry Styles. Harry Styles.  _ Harry Styles.”  _ He said his name over and over, loving the way it sounded. 

“I’m gonna go find his instagram. Gotta see if he’s worth your time, Loulou.”

“I- Fine. But don’t go stealing him from me when you see what he looks like,” Louis smiled as his fingers quickly worked out a response.

_ Louis: hi Harold. Don’t worry, I remember who you are.  _

_ Louis: btw-- it’s cute when you ramble _

_ Harry: Glad ya think so. It tends to happen when I’m nervous. :) _

“Lou, oh my god. I mean you told me he was attractive. But my god. Can I trade you for Liam?” She took some screenshots of his posts and sent them to Louis. It was an instagram flooded with pictures his friends had taken of him going hiking, or swimming, or pictures of him bundled up in the middle of a snowstorm. 

“No we absolutely cannot trade. Hard pass on your brute of a man.” Liam was attractive, yet nowhere near Louis’ type, “Hey B, don’t kill me but I’m hanging up to text Harry.” He smiled big into the camera hoping that would ease her annoyance. He’s pretty sure it worked. 

“Wow, Lou. Already ditching me for a guy.” She laughed before blowing him a kiss and hanging up the facetime call. 

_ Louis: Well, sweet Harold- took ya long enough to text me. _

Louis could already feel his flirty personality coming through, and now that Harry was actually texting him, he wasn’t gonna hold back.

_ Harry: Deeply sorry, Lou. Just a bit nervous… _

Oh god, and he was nervous to text him, now he just wanted to snuggle up next to this boy and stroke his curls- he was so adorable.

_ Louis: no need to apologize, just glad you’re texting now.  _

_ Harry: how are you? :) :)  _

They texted all night long, and it continued well into the morning as well. Harry had let Niall put on Top Gun on the tv and while he was preoccupied with that, he texted Louis all night. Even after Niall fell asleep, Harry couldn’t bring himself to say goodnight. 

It was just past 5 am when Louis started to doze off, his eyelids were heaving and he was fighting back. It was so fun and easy with Harry. He didn’t have to change himself, even in text messages he was completely himself and wasn’t afraid of it. 

_ Louis: i’m falling asleep _

_ Harry: I’m that boring huh _

_ Louis: i’ll say _

_ Louis: no but seriously my mom is gonna kill me for staying up so late _

_ Harry: get some sleep, Lou _

Louis smirked at the nickname. It was something only his absolute closest friends and family members called him so having Harry say it made the butterflies in his stomach start to aggressively flap their wings and feel like they were gonna rip through his stomach lining. 

They didn’t- but Louis’ stomach was doing flips and his cheeks were hot and fiery and probably 10 shades redder than they normally were, and he was eternally grateful that Harry couldn’t see him right now. 

_ Louis: you too harold _

  
  



	6. Astriloqus

Crushes are stupid. Not in the way that he wished they didn’t exist, but in the way that it was so stupid you could become ridiculously infatuated with someone despite only speaking to them a few times. 

How you think about them an almost unhealthy amount to the point where you check your phone every .04 seconds in the hope that maybe they responded to your text message or perhaps liked your post on Instagram. 

Louis was already whipped to say the absolute least. All he wanted to do was tell all his friends about the pretty New Hampshire boy that could move mountains if he wanted to so badly. 

He couldn’t though, and he continued to keep his crush on Harry an absolute secret from everyone besides Brooklyn; and at this point, with the amount of flirting he was doing, Harry probably knew now, too. But that’s kind of his goal, isn’t it? And he also continued telling the rest of his friends that he was talking to a girl. One that he so happened to name Haley in the midst of them asking, 

_ What’s her name? _

_ Louis tell usssss _

_ She hot? _

_ Nameeeeee??????? _

He couldn’t help but choose the first name that came to his head that started with an H. It was a decision he was sure to regret later, however that was something he would deal with when it came to that. He’d cross that bridge later. 

He’d been texting Harry every single day for the last week, and he was also going into the coffee shop when time allowed him to. It was the same routine when he went in there. 

  1. Say hello to Harry and try to hide the stupid smile on his face while watching harry do the same (he’d scrunch his nose up whenever he wanted to hide a blushing smile from Louis)
  2. Order one of the cappuccinos that Harry makes along with a chocolate chip muffin that he insists Harry warms up because he likes when the chocolate melts
  3. Say hi to Ava and Kennedy. Harry’s coworkers, but more importantly- his friends. 
  4. Sit in the exact same spot every time (except for the one day there was a mother and her 2 children sitting there, that time he sat a little closer to the counter)
  5. Smile over at Harry every minute to see how he was doing or if he was still just as pretty as the minute before. He was.
  6. Bring his cup and plate back to the counter and give Harry the most overdramatic goodbye in the century.
  7. Leave the coffee shop and immediately text Harry. 



He had it down to a science and tried his best not to stray from it. He wanted it to continue the rest of the summer, maybe eventually he and Harry could hang out outside of a coffee shop setting with a counter of pastries and coffee cups between them. 

_ Louis: crushes are so stupid !!!!!!!!!!! _

_ Brooklyn: ooooooo a crush _

_ Louis: what are you, 12 years old? _

_ Brooklyn: are you? _

_ Louis: absolutely not. I am a mature big boy _

_ Brooklyn: Big? Sure about that one? _

_ Louis: how many times do i have to say Gigi is my favorite to get you to stop? _

_ Brooklyn: i’ll never stop _

_Brooklyn: If you’re so “mature”, why don’t you and Harry hang out? Like a proper date, one that isn’t 2 strangers running into each other in the middle of the woods_ _Louis: yeah okay. Should I just text him or ask at the coffee shop tomorrow?_

_ Brooklyn: ask him now, text him and go out tonight  _

So Louis did. Normally, Louis would rebut and refuse to listen to Brooklyn and follow it with a “ _ you are not a dating expert. And certainly not mine” _

He retyped it out probably 10 times and exited the messages app at least twice to scroll through Instagram, then go back and type the text again. He gave himself a subpar, quite shitty pep talk before hitting send. 

He figured Harry was probably busy at work considering the response didn’t come until 2 hours later when Louis was about to sit down with his family for lunch. 

_ Louis: Hey Harry, I was wondering if you maybe wanted to go out tonight? _

_ Harry: Like a date?  _

_ Louis: yeah, uh like a date… if you want! Like no pressure at all _

_ Harry: I’d love to go on a date with you. Unfortunately, I can’t tonight. I made plans with Kennedy and Niall. But you’re welcome to join us if you’d like. :) _

Not what he was hoping for but it was still a chance to see Harry. Even if his two best friends were there dry humping each other the entire night. He’d have to save a date for another day. So he had that to look forward to.

_ Louis: love to.  _

_ Harry: Perfect. Meet us at Kennedy’s tonight at 7. I’ll send you her address. <3 _

The heart. The fucking heart. He knew he couldn’t read too far into it, but he was and he is, and Harry sent him a typed out heart. 

If Liam and Zayn knew how he was feeling, they’d call him whipped and perhaps a “simp”, which yes, maybe he was. He didn’t care. And, they didn’t and won’t know. 

He quickly told Brooklyn before putting his phone into his pocket and turning to his mom. 

“Hey, Mom?” He asked innocently, worried about him hanging out with strangers, at least to her, they were strangers. 

“Yes, baby?” 

“Can I go out tonight?”

She turned and looked at him, before inspecting his face to try and read him. 

Louis was smiling while slumped down in his chair, twiddling his fingers, begging, hoping,  _ praying _ , that his mother would allow him to go out. 

“With who?” She asked curiously, looking over at Dan to see if he knew anything, he only shrugged, curious himself.

“Just some friends I made. Their names are Harry, Niall, and Kennedy.” He said, thinking nothing of it. 

“Ooo, Kennedy, who’s that baby? Pretty girl, you like?” Jay asked.

Louis hated that shit. No. No, he wasn’t interested in Kennedy. He was actually interested in someone else in that group- but he wasn’t just gonna blurt out and scream,  _ No, Mom, actually I like the Harry kid because BOYS.  _

“No, she’s dating Niall.” He said, prompting an eyebrow raise from his mother that he was happily choosing to ignore. 

“Of course, don’t do anything stupid, please. And, curfew is 2 am. No later please.” She kissed the top of his head and put down his plate of food in front of him. BLTs. A family favorite for lunch. 

Now he just wanted it to be 7 o’clock. Felt like the hours were going by ridiculously slowly and no matter how much he tried to distract himself with Criminal Minds, he kept checking the time on his phone anyways. 

He finally decided at 5:45, after an extremely boring day watching reruns of season 2 he convinced himself to hop out of bed and get ready unnecessarily early.

He took his time in the shower, making sure to rinse every bit of shampoo and conditioner from his hair, and cleaning every. single. inch. of his body. 

He shaved the slight amount of stubble from his face, and if anyone asked him- he wasn’t sure why he was getting ready for a not-date, but deep down he knew he wanted to impress Harry. 

He was doing this a lot lately. He would get all ready and make sure his hair was perfectly placed and ensured the wrinkles in his pants were smoothed out, just so he could go to the coffee shop when Harry was there. 

* * *

He was walking down the street towards the direction of Kennedy’s house, she lived along the water in a small little neighborhood. Louis spotted the small, cape house in front of him, there was a white picket fence out front, and the driveway was made of broken seashells. Very beachy. Louis liked it. 

His vans pressed against the seashells making a soft crunching sound with each step closer to the door. His pointer finger pushed the cold, plastic doorbell and he stood on the step waiting for someone to answer. And he was hoping it wasn’t Kennedy’s family. 

After a moment, the door opened to a tall, curly-headed boy opening the door with a huge smile on his face. 

“Hi.”

“Hey.”

Louis was taken aback by the boy pulling him into a hug unexpectedly. And, although unexpected, it was nice. He fit perfectly in the taller boy’s arms, and he felt protected and safe. 

Harry pulled away and was holding Louis by his arms, “come on in,” he smiled while smoothly sliding his hand into Louis’. And for a kid who has had basically  _ zero  _ experience in relationships, no not relationships- crushes. Yes, they were crushes, not a relationship. For a kid who had basically  _ zero  _ experience in  _ crushes _ he was pretty damn smooth. 

Louis’s hand was cold against Harry’s and their fingers locked together effortlessly like they had done this before in a past life. It felt natural and oh so right. 

He followed the green-eyed bloke up the stairs to Kennedy’s room where she and Niall were snuggled up on her bed arguing about something on the tv show they had on. 

“Guysss, Lou’s here,” Harry announced as he stopped in the doorway. Niall and Kennedy looked up from each other to see Harry with Louis’ hand in his, Niall laughed and Kennedy made a respective “ _ oooo” _ like she was in 8th grade.

“Hi,” Louis shyly responded. He was never nervous, yet for some particular reason that he could not explain, he was so beyond nervous he felt like his heart was going to explode.

Harry led him over to the edge of the bed and assured him it was okay to sit down too. Louis was having one of those severely awkward moments of being the new person to the group, and despite him feeling absolutely comfortable around these new acquaintances of his, he didn’t know if things like sitting on the edge of the bed were quite appropriate yet. 

“What place we going to?” Harry asked turning to look at Niall, prompting a confused expression from Louis’ face, one that said, “ _ going where?”  _ Harry saw and turned to him before saying, “we’re going to dinner. That okay with you?” Louis nodded and squeezed Harry’s hand.

And if it wasn’t already obvious to Harry that Louis has a huge crush, then it is now. Because they aren’t even anything. Not boyfriends, or hook up partners. Not a fling, or together in any way. They’re just friends- who according to Kennedy, clearly like each other.

“We’re going to Rosie’s Diner. I don’t make the rules,” Kennedy said proudly, hopping up from the bed and throwing on a pair of beat-up old converse. The laces were practically falling apart and she looked like she had gone walking through the woods in them one too many times. 

“But-,” Harry started before she cut him off, “no buts.”

“But we went 2 days ago!” He quickly finished. 

“We gotta show your new  _ friend _ our stomping grounds, Hazzy,” Kennedy smiled big. 

Harry rolled his eyes and turned to Louis, “Is that okay with you?” He asked quietly. His voice soft in Louis’ ear but he had such a thick New England accent, and no matter how quiet he spoke, Louis couldn’t get over how deep and masculine the boy’s voice was. 

Louis nodded and followed the friends out to Kennedy’s car. It was a large, black four-door Jeep Wrangler, clearly new (most likely a birthday gift), and Louis loved it. It had bumper stickers littered on the back windshield, and an air freshener around the rearview mirror scented like vanilla. 

He liked Harry’s friends, almost as much as he liked Harry. They were carefree and they didn’t care about what people said about them. He liked their relationships with each other too- it reminded him of his friends back home. They were all so close and hung out nearly every single day. Part of it made him miss his own, but this was just as fun. 

He hopped into the back with Harry after Niall screamed for shotgun the second the car was in sight. And if Harry reached over to grab Louis’ hand for the car ride, then no one had to know. 

They took a seat at a corner booth in the cafe, Louis slid in next to Harry, their knees brushing underneath the metal tabletop. The warmth from the touch stayed lingering there the whole meal almost like it was still happening. 

They were clearly regulars here, the waitress knew their names and their orders the moment she saw their faces, and she was certainly shocked to see a new face joining the table. Prompting Louis to be forced into a very uncomfortable introduction with this elderly woman named Caroline. No wait, maybe it was Carrie. He couldn’t remember. 

“So, Lewis, where ya from? I know New York, but like, what part?” Niall asked, biting down into his burger, a bit of ketchup dripping from the side of his mouth. 

“Oh, I’m from Manhattan,” Louis smiled, “and it’s Lou-ie,” he added afterward. 

“I know it’s Lou-ie silly goose, just messin. What’s the city like? I’ve never been. Well, none of us have.” 

“Not as extravagant as everyone thinks. Lot’s of dirty streets and weird smells. Also, unfortunately, our rate of homeless people is going up, which is quite unfortunate because our government officials won’t do anything about it,” he paused before seeing the look on their faces, “sorry, uh, just get a bit passionate about it is all. But uh- the city is nice. Yeah.” 

Harry smiled at the blush rising on Louis’ cheeks, clearly nervous, “You’ll have to show me sometime,” he smiled. 

“I will. Promise.”

After the meal, (which Louis dubbed “the best food he’s ever had” and felt the need to text his friends’ group chat about how they had to come here just for this diner,) Harry suggested they go sit down on the beach to look at the stars. 

“You really like stars, huh?” Louis asked as he got back into the car. 

Kennedy and Niall laughed at Louis’ statement, “like? More like an obsession, actually. Can never get this freak to shut up about it.” Niall chuckled. 

And no, he wasn’t wrong. And maybe it did make him a freak, but Harry really couldn’t give less of a fuck about it. 

“Hey! Not a freak, Nialler. If I have to remind you, last year you had an unhealthy obsession with the Backstreet Boys. I’d say that’s more freakish than me and the stars.” Harry defended himself, despite the fact that he promised he’d never tell a soul about Niall’s odd and uncalled for Backstreet Boys addiction. 

Niall turned around in the car and faced him, “Dude, you said you weren’t gonna bring that up around anyone.” His cheeks went bright red. 

“Blackmail.”

“Plus! My backstreet boy obsession,” he turned to Louis, “that I totally  _ did not _ have,” he was really trying to convince Louis he did not have this obsession, which Louis was not buying btw, “only lasted like 8 months tops,”

“11 months,” Kennedy cut in.

“Besides the point, Ken!” he looked back at Harry, “your little star infatuation has been going on since like forever. It’s gotten weird.” 

“I can’t help how fascinating spheroids of plasma that are held up by their own gravity are. Did you know the largest constellation is called Hydra and takes up roughly 3.16 percent of the sky and it represents the sea serpent, Hydra. Its breath and even the smell of its tracks were said to be so poisonous that anyone who breathed them died in agony.” Harry said a bit too proudly. 

The car went silent and Harry watched as everyone turned towards him. 

“Wow, isn’t that just sweet? A killing water snake. Louis? Are you ready to get out of the car yet?” Niall joked. 

But no, Louis wasn’t ready to get out of the car, if anything, his  _ stupid _ **,** and little- definitely little crush- was just more prominent. He liked that Harry liked, no, loved the stars. It was cute, and the stars are pretty, much like Harry. 

They hop out of the car at a small beach, it's quiet and no one else is there but them- something that Louis had to get used to being in this town. In New York, you were never alone. Always someone on every corner. 

Harry hopped out of the car, Louis following close behind, he led them to the beachfront and Louis took off his shoes to tread his toes into the water. 

Kennedy and Niall stayed put in the car telling them they were gonna “sit here and talk, leave you, two crazy kids, to it.”

Harry was sure it was because they probably conducted some sort of scheme to get him and Louis alone together. Although, he wasn’t against it.

“It’s beautiful out here tonight,” Louis laid back into the sand, staring up at the sky, Harry laying close next to him so their arms were touching. Louis held in a breath as his and Harry’s fingers brushed one another- he should be used to it by now considering he’s been holding Harry’s hand all night, but this was a feeling he wasn’t sure he’d ever get over.

“It is. Love it out here.” Harry sighed back into his weight, letting the stress of the day melting away with him into the grains of sand beneath his back. “Have fun tonight?” he asked gently. 

“Lots. Your friends are great. Super nice.” 

“Yeah, they are. They really like you, ya know?” Harry sat back up from the sand and turned around from where he and Louis were laying on the beach and looked back to Kennedy’s jeep. Both his friends sitting in the car together, talking. 

“I’m glad. Thanks for letting me join you guys. Hanging out with you all is definitely a lot better than sitting around a campfire with my family,” he laughed. 

“I’m glad I met you,” Harry’s cheeks flushed. He looked down at the boy who was now smiling cheekily from the comment.

“Me too.”

They looked out along the water. The glaze of the moon bouncing off of it providing the only other light source for the night aside from the light atop the lifeguard chair.

The night sky was filled with glitter.  _ Breathtaking _ , Louis thought. 

“You miss home?” 

“Yeah. Just my friends though. Not much else to miss.” 

“ ‘M sure there is. Not much here in New Castle either.” 

“There is so much more here,” Louis said sitting up. 

Harry let out a laugh, “like what? Last I checked, Manhattan’s population is more than slightly bigger than the 900 people we’ve got here.”

“Great atmosphere. Great places,” Louis sat up from the sand, now sitting in the same position as Harry, “Great People. And well, it’s got you.” Louis got bold with that one. For all he knows, Harry could so easily think this was strictly friendship territory. May not explain the hand-holding, but Louis was paranoid and would come up with any excuse in his head. 

Harry smiled, and not one of those lame, “thank you” smiles, it was one full of life and heart. His dimples poking out, and his cheeks turned a bright reddish-pink color, and he let his head drop down a bit before looking back into Louis’ eyes. 

He felt it. He had to do it. Harry leaned forward, lifting his hand to the other boy’s cheek, he pulled him in and brought their lips together. 

They both melted into it slowly. It was soft and supple, yet somehow still filled with passion and energy. Louis placed his hands on Harry’s arms, settling himself from moving while Harry brought his other arm up to put his hand in Louis’ hair. 

* * *

“Fucking knew it,” Kennedy laughed after she and Niall had to endure seeing Harry’s 3-minute makeout session with the city boy. 

Niall just shook his head, “at least Harry’s getting some. This one better not be a complete dick like the rest of them. Don’t know how many more of Harry’s bad first dates I can handle.”

“I’m sure he’s not,” Kennedy shrugged, “well, I can hope at least.” 

Niall laughed. He then swallowed back and turned to look at his girlfriend.

“Kennedy?” he asked softly. 

He was never soft and delicate. It was a much different tone from his usual, chaotic and loud self. 

“You okay, petal?” Niall smiled at the use of the nickname they often use for each other. He nodded in response. He actually couldn’t be any better. 

“I’m great. Just wanted to tell you something,” He trailed off, too nervous to barely even finish that sentence. 

“What’s up?” Kennedy said nonchalantly, not even taking a second to think about whatever he was gonna say.

Niall paused. He was never this nervous. Not ever. Not when he asked Kennedy out. Not when he had to play guitar in front of the entire school at the freshman year talent show. Not ever. 

“I-” he stopped again. “I love you.”

Kennedy felt a blush dancing across her cheeks, goosebumps growing on her arms.

She leaned in and kissed the blonde boy in the passenger seat.

“I love you too, Niall.”

  
  



	7. Astrologia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains NSFW content, please proceed with caution.

It was July already, Louis had been in New Castle now for almost a month. Since their makeout session on the beach, Louis and Harry had been hanging out almost every day. 

They even went on their first proper date, and it was more than perfect. Harry had set up a dinner in his backyard, complete with candles and twinkle lights. He also had set up a white bed sheet on the side of his house and projected a movie, Shawshank Redemption, onto it. He remembered Louis mentioning it was one of his favorites. 

“Harry, you really didn’t have to do all this for me. I would be perfectly happy at Rosie’s,” Louis wasn’t used to the chivalry. He did like it though. 

“I know. But I figured I’d give you a hopefully amazing first date, so you’d go on a second with me.” 

“Is this you asking me on a second date already?” Louis laughed. 

“Possibly,” Harry smiled sheepishly. 

Louis walked over and kissed him before they sat and got started with by Louis’ definition, the most perfect fucking date in the entire world.

The rest of their time together was filled with kissing, hand holding, and lots of laughing. Their conversations flowed together effortlessly, it was never forced or awkward. They had gone to the beach, mini-golfing, and of course- Harry just needed to get Louis laying under the stars with him each and every night. 

“Do you believe in serendipity? Or like astrology? Anything like that.” Harry asked, his arms resting under his head as they stared up. 

“Like fate and shit?” 

“Yeah. Like, are things meant to happen a certain way? Do our stars align a certain way and that determines our future? I think so.” 

“I mean, I think some things happen for a reason, I guess. But I don’t really know. Never had any reason to believe or not to believe that.” Louis shrugged. The idea was a bit far-fetched in his opinion but he didn’t really care. 

* * *

_ Harold: What are you doing tomorrow? _

_ Louis: well its the 4th so family and i probs have some stupid festive shit planned _

_ Louis: why? Can ya get me out of it?  _

_ Harry: major 4th of july party that people at our school throws is tomorrow. We all take up like half the beach and just party then sometimes it breaks off into smaller parties at different peoples houses. You down to go?  _

_ Louis: if you’ll be there so will I  _

_ Harry: can't wait. We’re all meeting at nialls before. Don’t forget your red white and blue!  _

_ Louis: maybe i’ll wear all black  _

_ Harry: oh definitely.  _

The question of what they were was always running through Louis’ head. Because what were they? They weren’t friends because they kiss and flirt and they hold hands for fucks sake. But they weren’t dating because they never talked about that. That was never established. So now they were just stuck in this weird, awkward middle phase where neither of them really knew what was happening but they liked each other. 

There was also the question of what happens after summer? Louis has to go back to New York. And Harry has to stay here. It’s not like any form of long-distance relationships are easy, but Louis wasn’t going to be the one bringing up that conversation. 

Louis hopped up from bed and ran downstairs to the kitchen where his mother and his younger siblings were sat snacking on Cheez-itz and Graham Crackers, “Hey mom, I’ve got a question.”

“What’s that, baby?” 

“I know tomorrow, you and Dan probably have some sort of thing planned for the 4th and all, and it’s not that I don’t want to do that it’s just-”

“Your new friends asked to hang out?” she cut him off. 

“Yeah…” he felt bad, this was supposed to be a family summer yet he was spending all his time with the pretty boy he has a crush on. And he’d be damned if he even dared tell his mother the real reason he wanted to hang out with Harry so much. 

“Of course. It’s your summer too. Besides, I figured you didn’t want to do sparklers with the twins anyways. We’re only having a barbeque during the day, then tomorrow night going down to the beach for fireworks. You’re welcome to bring your friends over for the barbeque.”

“Thanks, mom,” he said as he kissed her cheek, “I’ll ask them.”

Louis danced his way back upstairs to facetime Harry. 

“Hey gorgeous,” Louis smiled the second the other boy answered the call.

“Hi,” Harry blushed, his nose scrunching up.

Louis loved that little nose scrunch he did and to be completely honest, he was already picking up on that habit- his mother already called him out on it but he just brushed it off. 

“Guess who’s gonna spend the day with you for the 4th, tomorrow?” 

“Hmmmm, Niall! Kennedy!”

“No. Well yes, but ME.” Louis blew a kiss through the phone at Harry, who caught it and pretended to stick it in his pocket.

“Yayy,” he smiled, “I’ll take it your mom said yes?” 

“Duh. Anyways, I gotta go, going up to Manchester for the day. Smooches,” Louis smiled at the pretty boy through the phone who waved goodbye before hanging up.

And okay, maybe the stupid fucking smile on his face was a dead giveaway for these feelings he most definitely has developed on this stupid kid with a head full of hair. And was tomorrow a date? No, it was just a holiday. A party. With friends. 

All of these were thoughts he would most definitely acknowledge later tonight and try to suppress in front of his family for the day. And most definitely not tell his friends about. 

* * *

Truth be told, the 4th of July was a stupid holiday that probably shouldn’t be celebrated because why celebrate a country that royally sucks ass and where the president is a homophobic, racist asshole. 

However, it was a brilliant excuse for him to get absolutely wasted and wear clothes that made him look like a flag and run around town lighting fireworks without any repercussions. 

Louis had to haul himself out of bed and tell himself over and over again to not sleep in until 2 pm because he gets to see Harry today!! Which makes him happier than he’d like to admit. 

He hops down the big staircase in the house before finding himself in the kitchen prying open the refrigerator looking for orange juice, which of course they’re out of. 

“Out of OJ, mom?” 

“Yep. Sorry, sweetie, Phee drank the rest,” she smiled over at him, “and good morning to you…”

“Good morning,” he walked over and kissed her cheek as an apology for not greeting her before he asked about the beverage. 

“Why so chipper this morning?” Lottie pipes in. 

“Does there always need to be a reason for my happiness?” Louis pouted back sarcastically. Little shit he was. 

He sat down at the table as Jay placed stacks of pancakes in front of them, each of his siblings grabbing at everything on the table, Daisy spilling some syrup in the process.

“What's the plan today, Lou?” Jay asked while trying to clean the mess her kids were making, “Your friends coming to the cookout?”

Honestly, no, he didn’t want them coming to the cookout- he’d much rather sit in Niall’s backyard until the party tonight but he knew his mother would be nagging him about it all day long. 

“Yeah. I’ll text them the address.”

Jay smiled, excited to have more guests at the small cookout they were doing for the family and a few neighbors they had become acquainted with since coming to New Castle. 

_ Louis: cookout at my house at noon. Told mom to make extra food just for you niall _

_ Kennedy: sickkk get to meet ur family, wow louis i didn’t know you and harry were so serious _

_ Harry: we aren’t dating _

_ Niall: not yet anyways…. _

_ Louis: oh my god. My house. 12. Address is 18 steamboat ln _

_ Niall: oh you live on steamboat, oh so ur rich rich _

_ Louis: no _

_ Niall: yes _

After breakfast, Louis ran up to his room to rummage through his small assortment of clothing he brought with him, hoping to god there was some semi-decent looking red, white, and blue clothing he could throw on to look presentable in front of Harry. 

He settled on a light blue shirt that he wore with his favorite red pants that he’d cuff at the bottom. He figured he could wear some white converse with it and call it a day but he just had to grab the tacky American flag socks stuffed at the bottom of his drawer too. 

After a shower, Louis stood in his bathroom trying to blow dry his hair into the proper quiff he knew Harry thought looked nice, and well, Louis quite liked as well. And of course, today had to be the day his hair look like complete shit no matter how much product he put in it- he almost wanted to throw on a beanie and pretend he didn’t have hair- and he would’ve if people wouldn’t think he was absolutely insane for wearing a beanie in the middle of the summer. 

He heard the doorbell ring and before he knew it, he could hear his mother opening the door for his two friends and one, crush, fling type guy friend. Whatever he was gonna call it. 

He ran downstairs to save them from complete embarrassment with his mother’s overbearing (although charming) personality. 

“Hey!” He shouted, waving his hands at his mother to shoo and go find something to do that didn’t involve pestering his friends. 

She kissed Louis’ forehead before prancing away to the kitchen, leaving Louis’ cheeks burning red and him so embarrassed. 

“So sorry about her…” he added looking at them. 

“She’s so great. Real funny too. Too bad you didn’t inherit her humor, Louis.” Niall teased. 

“Yeah yeah,” Louis looked down at his shoes before pulling his head up and looking into the beautiful green eyes presented in front of him, “Hi Harry,” he smiled. 

“Hi. You look great,” the boy said back, scrunching his nose up as he spoke. 

“Well, we will leave you two to it. Gonna go see if your mom needs help,” Kennedy dragged Niall’s arm to the back where everyone was, only doing it to give Harry and Louis some alone time. 

And god was he so fucking pretty. He didn’t know how many times he was gonna say that to himself, Harry was like a Greek god. He was perfectly sculpted and had a jawline that could cut through glass. 

“Want me to show ya around?” Louis asked lowly. 

Harry smiled and followed Louis who was walking him around the house. It was a lot bigger than his, Harry thought. But it was cozy despite them just moving in for the summer. Reminded him of the type of house he wanted to live in when he was older. 

Eventually, Louis brought Harry upstairs and showed him his bedroom, something that truly was quite personal and intimate. It was his place for only him, and all his secrets and he was showing Harry. 

Louis stepped into the room, toeing off his shoes before hopping onto his bed, “So this is my humble abode,” he smiled. 

“I like it,” Harry looked around the room, following the walls and tracing his fingers against the soccer and band posters that Louis had plastered on basically every inch of the place. 

Harry slowed down and found himself trailing over to the bed where Louis was laying with his arms above his head. Harry took a seat on the end of it, he placed his hand on Louis’ leg, drawing shapes on it with his finger. 

Louis sat up from where he was laying, scooting himself closer to the boy, his legs were draped over Harry’s and every touch felt like sparks and electricity and lighting all in one.

Harry brought his hand to the side of Louis’ face, pulling him into a kiss. And before they knew it, the soft peck that Harry had placed to Louis’ pink lips was now a full-blown make out session where Louis was pinning Harry back against the bed. 

Louis was glad he locked the door. 

He kept dipping his tongue into the younger boy's mouth, trailing it along the inside of his lips, he brought his teeth in and pulled at Harry’s bottom lip, which had Harry letting out a small moan. 

Okay, so he knows he’s into that. 

Louis began pressing kisses all the way down the boy’s body, sucking a love bite to the side of his neck. He began pulling at Harry’s shirt, lifting up the bottom to expose Harry’s abs and pressing another kiss right above his belly button. 

Louis hadn’t ever done this before, so he was entering into unknown territory. The little knowledge he had came from whatever shitty porn he found himself watching on pornhub at 2 am, and that one time a girl his freshman year sucked him off after homecoming. 

Louis pulled down the zipper to Harry’s shorts, looking up at the boy before continuing, “this okay?” Harry nodded in response and let his head fall back against the pillow. 

Louis dipped his head down and started kissing around Harry’s groin before pulling down his boxers letting Harry’s dick spring free. It was already fully hard and a dribble of precum falling from the tip. 

Louis sucked in a deep breath to shake his nerves, trying to remember what he saw in that porn video last week, he opened his mouth and brought his head down over the tip of Harry’s dick, beginning to work his lips around it until he pressed all the way back and it hit the back of his throat.

Louis wasn’t sure if it was the fact that he was sucking a dick or the sound of Harry’s breathy moans that were getting him hard but either way he knew he wanted more. 

Just as he felt the tip of Harry’s dick brush the back of his throat, a loud knock hit the door, followed by the voice of his mother, “Louis? Are you in there? Food is ready.” 

Louis popped off of Harry before jumping up and fixing his fringe, “Uh, yeah mom- be right there!”

He looked over at Harry and sighed, “fuck I’m so sorry.” Louis was way past embarrassed, and the bright red tinge of his cheeks showed it. 

Harry chuckled a bit, “‘s okay, Lou. Do you wanna-,” he gestured down at the boner he was sporting before looking back up at Louis. 

“Fuck yeah I’ll finish.” 

* * *

Hours later, they all pulled up to a large beach house, Niall informing Louis that it was some kid named Calum’s house- and he was always the one to throw the major 4th party. 

The house was littered with cheap American flags and string lights probably purchased at Walmart. People were already flooding out of the house, the entirety of New Castle High School drunk out of their minds. 

Some of the guys were even in the backyard setting off cases of off-brand fireworks.

“I’m gonna go grab a drink, want something?” Harry said into Louis’ ear. He nodded looking around to see where he could hang out until Harry got back with their drinks. 

He headed over to the side of the porch, he leaned on the railing looking out over the groups of people in the front yard. He felt quite out of place, he was the kid from out of town who wasn’t invited. He wasn’t one to avoid a social gathering but at this moment, his bedroom was sounding quite appealing. 

Harry came up behind him, handing over a red solo cup filled with cheap liquor, “Here you go, good lad.”

“Thanks,” Louis took a sip of the drink, “This is awful,” he winced as it went down the back of his throat. 

“I know. Some kid on the lacrosse team made it. Said it was his “blackout juice”.” 

“Oh god, I’m gonna be roofied,” he took another sip though. 

“It’s a strong possibility,” Harry joked, he joined Louis against the railing, “Enjoying your stay?”

Louis smiled. Because yes, he was truly having the best time of his life. New Castle felt like home, at least something about this place did. Couldn’t quite put his finger on it just yet. 

“So much. It’s only been a month, and I could stay here forever.”

“Wouldn’t that be nice?”

The two of them turned around when they heard a loud yell from Niall. It was evident the boy had joined in on the fireworks shenanigans and had a lighter in his hands. A dangerous combination. 

“Oh great, he’s gonna start a forest fire,” Harry rolled his eyes, grabbing for Louis’ hand, “Cmon, let’s go make sure he doesn’t burn this place down, then I expect a round of cornhole. Me and you against Niall and Kara.” 

“I’ve never played cornhole,” Louis cheesed. Harry stopped dead in his tracks. 

“You what?! How? You’re 18 years old and you’ve  _ never  _ played. It’s a staple of America. 

Harry placed his drink down next to the cornhole bags, claiming his spot for the next game. He hollered for Kennedy, before heading over to Niall, who was now lighting some firecrackers with Calum and a boy named Luke. 

“I live in Manhattan, you don’t find cornhole very often.”

“So basically I’m gonna lose to Niall and Ken because you suck at the game?”

“Yes, but at least I’ll look pretty doing it,” he batted his eyelashes, taking another sip of the foul beverage. 

“You’re not wrong there,” Harry came up behind Niall, grabbing the lighter from him. 

Niall pouted, “Heyyyy, you’re no fun.” 

“Come on, cornhole. Gotta show Louis the ropes,” he dragged Niall with him, over to the game perched in the middle of the yard. 

“The ropes of cornhole? It’s not exactly rocket science.” Snarky bastard Niall was. 

“Yeah, well he’s never played,” Harry added. 

Niall turned around to look at him, the same ‘jaw on the floor’ look that Harry had had, “What?! It’s an American classic. A staple!” 

“That’s what I said!” Louis was now being bullied for cornhole. Ridiculous. Absolutely appalling. 

“You lot suck.” 

Everyone had moved to the beach. Everyone in town had found their own spot on the sand to watch the evening’s firework show. Young kids were climbing onto the lifeguard chair, and adults had set up small bonfires in little circles. 

The college-aged people were drinking Coors and Bud Light wreaking havoc on the beach. Being loud and blasting some shitty music. 

Louis was sitting at the back of the beach, his back pressed up against the cement block that separated the beach and parking lot. The block was scribbled with graffiti and names of kids who had frequented the beach before. And he was sure if he looked hard enough, he could probably find Harry’s name. 

Harry plopped down next to him after getting them both snow cones from the ice cream truck. 

“Fuck, that line was ridiculously long. A whole lot of kids buying Spongebob ice creams.”

‘Those things are gross,” Louis laughed, beginning to eat the cherry section of the snow cone. 

“Yeah but the eyeball parts are good,” Harry tacked on. 

“What?! You’re a sociopath.” 

They sat watching the people go by as they enjoyed their snack, making small comments to one another occasionally like; “if that dude has another drink I think we’re gonna see him with his head in the trash can,” and “that couple has been arguing for 15 minutes, will they ever shut up?” 

A loud bang erupted out of nowhere, a bright flash of red filling the sky. A few more quick bangs of color filled the dark sky. Louis laid back on the sand, staring up into the night, giving the illusion that the fireworks were directly above him. 

Harry slumped down to join him, “it’s pretty,” Louis nodded in response. 

His favorite firework was the “weeping willow” so a smile would spread over his lips whenever one would explode into the air. 

The firework show was 12 minutes of pure bliss, the finale erupted, what seemed like a hundred different kinds of fireworks went off all at once, the barge in the ocean could be seen and every few seconds small flashes from it flew up into the sky. 

Louis turned to look at Harry, he pressed a kiss to the boy’s lips, and if anyone was around them, they wouldn’t even be able to recognize either of them in the darkness. 

  
  



	8. Heavenly Body

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains NSFW content.

It was July 18, and so far, Louis could already conclude this was the best summer he’s ever had. He wasn’t expecting to meet new friends, let alone amazing ones. And he certainly wasn’t expecting to catch the world’s strongest feelings for the cutest boy in the world. 

With people like Harry around, how could men be straight in this economy? 

Harry was spending the night this particular evening. Louis didn’t even have to beg him, Louis barely finished asking him when Harry was already screaming “yes” and hugging Louis so ridiculously tight. 

Louis hadn’t ever cleaned his room so much in his life. He also made his bed. Because if Harry was going to be laying in his bed, in his room, he’s gotta make it at least seem like he’s not a total slob who leaves his dirty clothes on the ground until his mom yells at him to clean his ‘goddamn room’. 

Luckily for him, his mother was still completely unaware of Louis’ interest in the male species so she was clueless to the fact that Louis was practically preparing for a night of sex and blowjobs with Harry. 

That was for him, the beauty of being in the closet. His mother thought that Harry was  _ just a friend _ . 

Louis heard a knock on the door, “Come in!” He shouted back, shoving some shirts in his top drawer and shutting it. Jay walked in and smiled at him. 

“You? Cleaning your room? To what do I owe this pleasure?” She joked, sitting on his bed. 

“Hey, I just made the bed, don’t mess it up,” he walked over and straightened the duvet one last time. 

“You sure you’re okay. You seem to be making a big deal about your friend coming over?” Fuck, did she notice. No, she definitely didn’t notice. Right?

“It’s just- it was too messy. I’m just being a polite host.”

He played that off well. Sorta. 

Jay nodded, “Okay, Lou, well, will Harry be joining us for dinner?” 

“I’ll ask him, but probably,” He answered back softly, he smiled as she left the room.

The theme song for criminal minds started playing from his phone, it had been his ringtone for a few years now, Louis grabbed it and smiled at the picture that popped up, a smiley, doe-eyed picture of his boy.

“Hello Harold,” he spoke into the phone.

“Hi, love. I’m outside.”

“Already?”

“Didn’t wanna wait any longer to see you.”

Louis smiled and hung up the phone, running downstairs to the front door.

Harry was one of those people who were prettier in person. You can imagine someone in your head, or look at photos of them- but nothing compared to standing in front of them. And that was Harry. His perfectly chiseled jawline, the dimples that you just wanted to stick your finger into, and the eyes that were as green as the evergreen trees in the forest behind Louis’ house. 

So when he opened the door to see Harry standing there with a pillow tucked under his arm and a blanket stacked on top of it, he couldn’t help but smile like a kid who just walked into a candy shop. 

“Hey, you.”

“Hi,” Louis said, leaning into a kiss with the boy, hoping that his family wasn’t watching, “Come in.” 

Louis slipped up the staircase, Harry following close behind. Louis was in a stage of avoidance with the family with this whole situation with Harry. He didn’t want to come out, nor did he plan on having them know that the boy that was probably going to sit down with them for dinner tonight was the same boy Louis would probably be railing afterward. Or before. Maybe both if Louis was lucky enough. 

Louis sat on his bed, the bed dipping next to him, the New Hampshire lad was smiling cheerily at him, almost admiring the way he looks. 

“What?” Louis asked. 

“You’re just beautiful,” that comment made Louis’ cheeks flush and he could practically feel them turning bright red. He leaned into Harry, tucking his head up under the boy’s neck. He loved the scent of Harry. It was vanilla mixed with a deep, manly cologne smell. Louis could bask in it all day- he made a mental note to steal one of Harry’s sweatshirts the next time he was at his house. 

Louis tilted his head upwards, his eyes locking into Harry’s. Harry brought his lips down slowly and pressed them against Louis’. He fought to ignore the butterflies that were about to punch a hole in his stomach as he trailed his tongue along the inside of Harry’s lips. 

The feeling of kissing Harry was unlike any feeling he had experienced during a kiss. Kissing Eleanor was definitely nothing like this, even if he hadn’t stiffened up in a moment of severely gay panic. Because even with his first girlfriend, Hannah, he only ever kissed her because he had to; and all the butterfly-less kisses meant nothing to him now. Because now, they weren’t just formalities. 

Then there was the first kiss he had at the age of 14, which was with the girl, Jordan in the stairwell of their school. A kiss he chose to forget most days. 

And if kisses were supposed to feel like this, he knew it was the person and not the kiss. And from now on, he only wanted those super amazing, butterfly inducing, firework sparking, and exhilarating kisses to be with Harry. He wasn’t gonna tell the boy that though. 

Louis connected his arms behind the lad’s neck, tightening his grip as he felt his dick hardening beneath his sweatpants. He adjusted as he got on top of Harry’s lap, feeling Harry’s, also hard, dick on his leg. 

He pulled away and looked at Harry, “Do you wanna?” He asked, hoping Harry needed no other context for the question.

Harry grabbed Louis’ face and pulled it into a deep and passionate kiss, saying the word yes between kisses. Louis smiled into the kiss, “Who’s gonna- ya know?” Louis asked. 

“Top?” Harry giggled. 

“Yeah, that. I’ve never- like. I’ve never done it before…” Louis was nervous. His sexual experience was limited and had only been with girls, so for him, it wasn’t the best. He and Hannah had dabbled in oral sex after 2 months of dating and it was one of the most, if not  _ the  _ most awkward experience of his life. They broke up soon after that, Louis brushing it off as being “too busy” for a girlfriend. 

He basked in virginity and his friends always tried to hook him up with tons of girls, and he always had an excuse not to. 

“That’s okay, Lou. I won’t judge you. You can top if you want, might be better,” Harry hugged him tight before getting up and locking the door and dimming the light. The only thing providing light in the room was the few candles Louis had clearly lit before Harry got here. Quite a cliche if we’re being honest, but Louis would tell you that it was only for the smell, not because he was anticipating a sexual endeavor. 

“Yeah, okay. Just- if I suck, please do not mention it, it’ll be quite damaging to my ego. And if you wanna dump me-” 

Harry cut him off with a kiss, “Won’t ever dump you. It’ll be good, baby.”

“Baby,” Louis got all soft at that. He was quite the sucker for pet names.

“Yes, baby. And we don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.” Harry wrapped his arms around the smaller boy, pulling him close. 

“No, I want to. I want to do it with you.”

Harry smiled and nodded at him, “me too,” he kissed his forehead, before dragging him over to the bed. Louis pushed Harry down onto his back, he began to trail kisses down onto Harry’s neck, slowly pulling the boy’s crewneck off as he did so. 

He gripped his hands around Harry’s hips, the skin soft beneath them, he was kissing all around the hem of Harry’s sweatpants, his nose touching just around Harry’s belly button.

Harry had tossed his hands into Louis’ hair, pulling around the strands and tugging through the little knots in it. As Louis got closer to Harry’s crotch, he could feel Harry’s hands tighten on his hair, knowing that teasing him was going to eventually drive the boy mad. 

He let his fingers drag against the hem, carefully tugging a bit and letting his hand dip into his underwear. 

“Louis take 'em off,” Harry groaned.

Louis nodded and slowly pulled down Harry’s sweatpants, dragging the underwear with it. His dick sprang free from the constraints of his clothing, letting him breathe a bit. Louis started down on Harry, placing his mouth over Harry’s length, sucking on the tip before pushing down and taking almost all of him into his mouth. 

The moans Harry was letting out were something out of 50 Shades of Grey, letting him know that Harry was clearly enjoying what he was doing. 

Louis continued to bob his head up and down, sucking around the boy’s dick, he could feel Harry grabbing onto his hair tightly, pulling on his hair. Louis opened his eyes and looked up to Harry, making sure to continue sucking. 

He made eye contact with Harry who threw his head back at the sight of Louis looking at him from that angle, “Lou- ‘m gonna come,” Louis heard his words and pulled off, kissing one kiss onto his tip. 

“How do you wanna do this then? Like any position or-” Harry could tell he was clearly a bit nervous, he grabbed the boy’s hands and held them, “I wanna see you. I want- I want to be able to kiss you.” 

Louis smiled, “Okay,” and he got up and walked over to his nightstand, pulling out a condom and a bottle of lube, something he made sure to pick up from the drugstore in town earlier today, in hopes he would get to finally sleep with Harry. 

He pushed his sweatpants down to the floor, as Harry pulled his shirt over his head for him. Louis got onto the bed, kneeling in front of Harry, he tossed the condom to the side as he popped the cap to the lube, adding some onto his fingers along with Harry’s hole. 

Louis started by pushing one finger into Harry, slowly moving it in and out, he gave him a moment to adjust to the finger before slowly pressing another in. He started to scissor his fingers to open the boy up. 

After a minute, he asked lowly, “this okay, Haz?” 

“Mhm, more,” Louis nodded, going to add a third finger and it only took about 30 seconds before Harry was ready. 

“Okay, now. Lou, I need you,” he was throwing his head back and moaning from the back of his throat. 

Louis reached to the side, grabbing the condom he had tossed to the other side of the bed, he tore the packet open, rolling the condom onto his hardened dick. Harry reached up and grabbed his hand, “you sure?”

“Very,” Louis answered, before leaning down and kissing the boy. 

He lined himself up between Harry’s legs, taking a deep breath before slowly pressing into him, bottoming out. Immediately the sensation of being surrounded by Harry filled him. He threw his head back before slowly starting to move in and out. Careful not to move too fast. 

He leaned in and kissed Harry, dipping his tongue into his mouth as he continued to thrust into him. 

“Faster,” Harry moaned, grabbing onto Louis’ arms and squeezing his biceps. 

Louis did as he was told and began to pick up the pace, thrusting harder into Harry, both of them moaning after each thrust. 

“Fuckkkk,” Harry moaned out, he was moving his body along with Louis in an attempt to get more speed and friction. He began begging for it, moaning out Louis’ name persistently. 

“I’m close,” Louis moaned, Harry nodded almost in agreement. 

Louis slowed down his speed a bit, wanting it to last a bit longer, even though truthfully they will probably be back here later doing it all again. He continued his movements out until Harry’s moaning was becoming stronger, he had reached in front of himself and began to stroke his own dick, Louis reached down and began to quickly pump Harry.

Louis could feel the burning sensation bubble in his stomach, it was fiery and he allowed himself to let out a few breathy moans, he moved his hand faster up and down Harry’s cock before he felt Harry’s hot cum spew all over his hand and stomach. 

Just a delayed second later, Louis was gripping the bedsheets as he felt himself cum inside of Harry, filling up the condom with his warm liquid. 

He collapsed on top of Harry, slowly pulling out of him before using his t-shirt to clean him and Harry up a bit. He moved off to the side and laid next to Harry, snaking his arm over the boy’s torso. 

“So was it okay?” He asked hesitantly. He wanted Harry to enjoy it, and hopefully, fingers crossed, not compare it to the others he’s slept with. 

Harry looked at Louis before pressing a kiss to his lips, “Amazing, baby.” 

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. You better keep some energy for later tonight,” Harry said with a smug wink. He stood up from Louis’ bed, sliding out of Harry’s embrace, throwing on his clothes that he had previously thrown on the ground. 

“More tonight? Lucky me,” Louis smiled, following Harry’s lead and getting up from the bed, “Hopefully we weren’t too loud. Don’t wanna have that conversation with my mother at dinner.” 

Because Louis definitely wanted to avoid the,  _ What were those noises, Louis?  _ Or the,  _ Louis, we need to talk about your friend.  _

“Don’t think we were too bad, I definitely tried to contain myself.”

“I didn’t,” Louis responded.

The boys laughed before realizing they had to head downstairs for dinner with Louis’ family. Louis knew in the back of his mind they wouldn’t suspect a thing considering back in New York, Louis had his friends over for dinner all the time. I mean, Zayn practically lived there, and Liam would always join the family supper whenever he slept over. So Harry would be no different. 

They headed downstairs, Louis stopping as they reached the bottom of the staircase. Harry noticed his nerves sparking, clearly worried the conversation of what they were doing upstairs may come up. 

“Hey, it’ll be okay,” he touched Louis’ arm to comfort him, “I won’t bring it up, I promise you. And I got your back if anything happens, okay?” Louis nodded in response, he felt Harry press a quick, soft kiss to his forehead before they headed into the dining room where Jay was finishing setting up the place settings. 

Jay walked over to Harry and gave him a quick hug, “Harry! Lovely to see you again, hope you enjoy what’s for dinner tonight. I’ve made this salmon and pasta dish, it’s one of Louis’ favorites,” she smiled. Louis’s mother was too kind for this world and she always wanted to make her family feel so loved. 

Jay was always asking Louis if he was ever going to bring a girl over for dinner, he hadn’t since he and Hannah were together, and since then Jay was always hoping one night Louis would bring another. 

Little did she know that Harry was that other person. He wasn’t sure if he was gonna tell her anytime soon, or at all. She’d be supportive of course, but it was quite a terrifying testament to announce out of nowhere. “Hey mom, I’m gay,” isn’t necessarily light dinner conversation. 

They took a seat next to each other at the table, Jay calling in the rest of the family who came filing in one by one from the family room. 

“Big family. I don’t know if you properly met everyone at the barbeque,” Louis said looking at the boy to his right. 

“I didn’t, no. Introduce me?” Louis nodded in response and introduced each sibling of his as they came in. 

Lottie sat down on the other side of Harry, batting her eyelashes at him in hopes of a bit of attention. And Louis wanted so badly to scream at her to hop off his Harry. 

Jay sat down, telling Louis to lead the family in grace as they sat down. Louis hated the fact that they said grace. And not because it tended to be a religious thing. That was fine, but it was just confusing that it tended to be a religious thing and his family was far from religious. His mother, however, insisted that saying grace was “polite.” 

Louis said a few random thank yous for the meal, and thank yous for having a home and a great family. At the end of his little speech he made sure to add on, “and thank you for my amazing, new best friend,” hoping he didn’t sound too  _ gay,  _ he supposed, saying it. 

Harry turned his head and smiled at him. 

Louis’s family started a light chatter at one end of the table, Harry and Louis whispering to one another completely ignoring those around them. They had been enveloped in their own little world, and Louis had to constantly remind himself to not kiss the boy, having to check himself back into reality. 

“So, Harry, how did you and Louis meet? I was quite surprised to see him making friends so fast,” Louis’ mother asked, moving the salad around in her bowl. 

Harry wiped the corner of his mouth with his napkin before answering her, “Oh, we met at this one spot in town. Just stumbled upon each other,” he smiled. 

Lottie looked up, “Wait,” she paused, and Felicite continued, “Louis, I thought you said you met him at the grocery store?” 

Well shit. Louis forgot about that lie he told. 

He quickly spoke up, coming up with yet another lie, “We did, after that we saw each other again. Forgot about that,” Louis laughed. Harry looked at Louis before touching his hand to his leg and mouthing a sorry to him. 

“Okay...” Lottie answered. She knew something was up. Because Louis was the worst liar in the world. It was quite a remarkable thing that he hadn’t broken yet. And even more remarkable that Jay hadn’t caught on. At this point, he would’ve suspected his mother to call him out on him lying through his teeth, and then followed it with a lecture on how lying is the worst thing you can do. Louis would argue that sometimes, a bit of fibbing was necessary. 

The rest of the dinner went by quite slow, only light conversation happening around the table. This time, Harry made sure to tiptoe his words to not reveal another lie Louis had told his family.

Which mainly meant that Harry was quite nervous to speak up again. Only adding onto conversation where he knew he wouldn’t leave room for questions. He felt a bit tied down in that regard. He was a chatterbox and when he became comfortable around people he knew, he’d talk their ears off. Go on and on about the stars and ask people their time of birth so he could do their birth chart- chart their stars and planets the night they were born. 

That’s what he had done with Louis, and he had sat him down for about an hour going through the motions, explaining every last detail. And Louis would normally be one to tell him to fuck off and go on about how stupid it all was, But it was Harry and he couldn’t because he liked watching the way his lips moved to form the words and the smile that would spread across his face every single time he had a new revelation about something in Louis’ chart. So yeah, Louis sat there and listened, and studied Harry’s face in the process. 

* * *

“Would you like me to help clean up, Jay?” Harry asked, bringing his plate to the sink where Louis’ mother was washing dishes. 

“Oh darling, nonsense. I’m all set, thank you though. Lord knows Louis rarely offers to help,” she laughed, “you boys have fun tonight, let me know if you need anything.”

Harry smiled and nodded, Jay really was too nice for this world. She reminded Harry much of his mother. 

Harry trotted upstairs and flopping onto his person’s bed, waiting for him to walk in. 

The door creaked open, the caramel-haired boy prancing in and jumping on top of Harry. 

“Sorry about that,” he mumbled into Harry’s chest. 

Harry laughed, “Sorry about what?” He began stroking the boy’s back, waiting for an answer. 

“My family. And my sister practically dry humping you up and down the table. Sucks seeing my sister flirt with you in front of my family and I can’t,” he giggled, “Quite bullshit if I’m being honest.” 

“It is bullshit. But I love your family. Promise.” 

A knock was heard on the door and Louis flew himself off of Harry before shouting for them to come in. 

It was Lottie, hair up in a messy bun and already in her pajamas for the night. 

“Louis, can I talk to you?” She asked, Louis, groaned but got up anyway, curious as to what Lottie was bringing to the table this evening.“Be right back, Harold.”

They stepped into the hallway, right outside of Louis’ door that he shut behind them, “what do you want?”

“Are you gay?” Lottie asked point-blank. It took Louis back a bit, and the shock was written all over his face. He didn’t know whether, to be honest, or brush it off and call her ridiculous. 

“Lots, what?” Is all he said. That was all he could get out. He needed to know what prompted her to come to this conclusion. 

“Are you gay?” She asked again.

“What makes you think that?” He responded quite rudely. He was at the point where he wanted to scream at her to fuck off. Because how dare she ask that, because as a gay man, he was quite offended, taken aback by it. He wanted to shout at her. He was quite protective of his sexuality, especially considering he had just recently come to terms with it himself. 

“Well, you act weird around Harry. And why would you lie about meeting him if he was just a friend,” he rolled his eyes at her, “Oh, and I heard you guys going at it before dinner. Which like, keep it down next time.”

Louis couldn’t deny it anymore. He couldn’t come up with some lie that they were watching porn together or something, because that would be just weird. He couldn’t say they were wrestling because that would be a dead giveaway. No way around it. Embrace it. 

Louis dropped his head, staring at his feet. He started to tear up. It felt like a rush of emotions. Sad that he couldn’t tell Lottie himself. Angry that she brought it up. Embarrassed that she heard him fucking Harry. But also happy, happy that someone in his family knew. 

He nodded, continuing to stare at the ground. Lottie immediately pulled him into a hug, rubbing his back, “it’s okay, Lou. I’m proud of you and I love you. And I won’t tell mom or Dan or anyone, I promise.” 

That made Louis cry even more if he was being honest. Lottie was like his best friend, they were quite close as older brothers and younger sisters go, so having her love and support meant the world to him. 

Louis looked up, his tears slowing down, he wiped his nose with his sleeve and looked at her, “If you knew, why were you basically trying to get in Harry’s pants at the dinner table?”

Lottie laughed, “what? A girl can’t have some fun?”

“Not on my boyfriend you can’t.” 

“Boyfriend? So you’re not just fuck buddies?” She asked.

“No, we’re not just fuck buddies. Well, we aren’t boyfriends either if we’re being technical here- but, I mean, it’s complicated, okay! And actually, tonight was the first time we had sex,” he added sheepishly. 

“Wait- was this, was this your first time?”

Louis turned to go back into his room, but Lottie grabbed his arm, “Lots, I am not having this conversation with you.” He rolled his eyes.

“Oh my god, it totally was!” Louis put his hand up to her mouth to prevent her from shouting further.

“Lottie. I am going to go back and spend time with Harry. Please leave me alone, now,” he gave her one last hug before turning around.

“Just be quiet this time,” Lottie joked before heading back to her room. 

Louis fell on the bed next to Harry, who had already taken note of his reddened eyes.

“Love, were you crying?” Harry immediately grabbed Louis and pulled him into a hug, Louis gripped on tight, beginning to cry again. 

“Oh, baby, what happened?” He began rubbing Louis’s head, knowing it was quite calming for him. 

“Lottie knows,” they weren’t bad tears. They were happy tears, but Harry didn’t know that. 

“I am so sorry, Louis. I’m so sorry. It’ll be okay,” he was cut off by Louis, “No, no. I’m glad she knows. She was great. It’s just a weight off my shoulder. Feels good.”

Harry kissed his forehead, “happy tears?” he asked. 

“Happy tears.” 

The rest of their night was filled with snuggles, watching Grey’s Anatomy, and some more sex at midnight. Louis had concluded that Harry was going to be quite sore the next day. 

They ended their night with tight snuggles in bed, Louis spooning him all through their slumber. 

Louis was woken up by soft kisses being pressed to his temple, he turned over and tucked into Harry’s chest, he let out a soft groan, wanting to stay asleep for a while longer. Harry brought his hand into the boy’s hair, running his fingers through it slowly. 

The sound of Louis’ family downstairs combined with the soft feel of Harry’s touch began to wake Louis from his sleep, he opened his eyes and looked at Harry, “morning, sleepyhead,” Harry giggled. 

Louis groaned, “mmm, morning. ‘M tired,” he let out a yawn before pulling the duvet above his head to block out the sun streaming in through the windows, “don’t wanna get up. Let’s stay in bed.”

“When your mom walks in on us spooning, I’ll be sure to tell her you wanted 5 more minutes,” he laughed. 

Louis sat up and punched Harry in the arm, “I hate you,” he stretched his arms and got up out of his bed, grabbing a shirt from the ground and throwing it on. Louis walked over to Harry and pressed a kiss on his lips. 

“You need to brush your teeth,” Harry muttered into the kiss. 

Louis rolled his eyes, “Well so do you, asshole.” Harry laughed and placed his hand on the back of Louis’ neck, pulling him into another kiss, “Don’t care though. Like kissing you.”

A moment later, Dan was outside Louis’ door, “Guys, mom made breakfast, come join if you want,” he shouted through the door. Louis looked at Harry and nodded towards the door. 

The boys walked into the kitchen, the smell of waffles and bacon filling the entire room. The twins were sitting at the table making a mess of the syrup bottle they had tipped over probably 5 times already. The babies were in their highchairs, swatting cheerios around. Lottie was pouring herself a glass of water when she turned and saw them. She smiled at them and nodded to Louis.

It was just another small gesture to show she loved him and wasn’t gonna say anything to the rest of the family. Louis walked over to his mother and kissed her on the cheek, “Morning, mom. Thanks for breakfast,” he took a seat at the breakfast table, pulling the chair out next to him for Harry to take a seat. 

“Yes, thank you so much, Jay. Looks lovely,” Jay smiled at Harry before laughing and looking over to Louis. 

“Louis, you need more friends like Harry. So polite.”

The word, friend rang out in Louis’ ears. Gross. Louis hated keeping this from his mother. He never kept anything big to himself. She knew all of his secrets from every aspect of his life. 

Every day, Louis wanted to tell her- there was always this part of him that knew it was something that would end up benefiting him in the end. He even would search up “ _ How to come out to your parents” _ videos on youtube. And after deciding he was going to do it, he’d panic and back out, deciding that staying in the closet was safe. 

He liked his closet. It was safe and cozy and comforting. It was just him and a few people. So ultimately he always chose to stay there. 

“I’m gonna tell Zayn you said that,” Louis said point-blank, knowing Jay was just messing around. 

“Oh, please, Louis. Zayn prefers me over you any day,” Jay joked. 

“True.”

“What do you boys have planned today?” Dan asked, wiping off one of the babies. 

Louis shrugged, “Don’t know,” he took a bite of his food before looking over at his boyfriend, “Wanna hang today?”

“Of course,” Harry smiled. Louis loved his smile so much. It had adorable little dimples and his eyes would crease at the corners. Louis always wanted to make him smile so he could look at Harry’s smile more. 

* * *

“What’s that one right there?” Louis asked, pointing up at the sky. After the day they spent together on the beach, Louis had asked Harry to bring him to the spot he always goes. 

Harry laughed, “just a group of stars. You know, not every star is part of a constellation.”

“Oh. Well, that’s stupid. Then why do you think that all stars tell a story?”

“Because they have to. Every star got there for a reason, some of them just more important than others,” he shrugged. 

“What do you think the stars mean for us?” Louis asked looking over at the boy laying on the ground next to him.

Harry sat up and looked at Louis, glancing back up to the sky that was twinkling with glitter, “I think the stars meant for us to be together.” 

Louis smiled at that. He sure hoped so. He wasn’t sure how much of this “stars” shit he believed, despite Harry telling him new things about it every day the last few weeks. Louis sat up and kissed Harry right then.

He just had to keep reminding himself that it’s way too soon to fall. Absolutely too soon. Right?

  
  



	9. Constellatio

The summer was already going by too fast, it felt like yesterday when he was leaving New York City to come spend 3 months in one of the smallest towns in the country. 

He tried to avoid the conversation with Harry about what would happen when he has to go back home. They’d try long-distance, they’d try to make it work with their busy schedules. Louis would drive down for a weekend every month maybe. But with Louis’ senior year, and the tribulations of college applications and Harry trying to navigate his way through his junior year; it’d end up being too much. And Louis knew that.

But he was good at avoiding. So he’d avoid that conversation for as long as he could. 

Every summer, a fair came to New Castle. It was full of rides that were probably older than Louis himself, loads of games, and stands with fried dough and snow cones that he’d be spending endless amounts of money on. 

He got a text from Niall early in the morning that Friday, it had woken him up at an ungodly hour (8 am, but still far too early than what Louis could ever deal with), and he had an internal debate with himself whether or not he should roll over and just ignore it, or actually check to see if it help any importance. He chose the latter. 

_Niall: make sure u come to the fair tonight_

_Louis: you woke me up @ 8 am for this. No shit i'm going_

_Niall: just make sure you go_

_Louis: i almost want to not go just to spite you_

_Niall: sometimes i wonder what harry sees in you_

_Louis: probs my amazing ass_

_Niall: probably_

_Niall: n e ways BE THERE TOMMO_

Louis laughed and tucked his phone back under his pillow, a place he liked to keep it when he slept because he always fell asleep to music each night, and he liked the way the pillow muffled the sound. 

He had woken up 3 hours later to his mother turning on his light and opening up the curtains.

“You devil,” he groaned, trying to block the light with his blanket. 

“You need to get up. It’s nearly noon and didn’t you say yesterday you were going to Niall’s at 12:30?” Jay pulled the covers off of Louis, it really was the only way to ever get him out of bed. Unless you’re of course a 16-year-old boy named Harry Styles, then a simple, “Hi” would get him to jump out of bed. 

“I hate when you do that,” he mumbled as he got out of bed, making sure to grab the throw blanket at the end of it and drape it around his shoulders, he walked over to his bathroom and closed the door behind him before shouting back to his mom, “Love you though!” 

He turned on the showerhead, before letting the blanket he had around him fall to the ground, followed by his clothes. He popped on his favorite playlist he had made just a few weeks ago, it was packed full of Oasis, a touch of Nirvana, Catfish and the Bottlemen, and his guilty pleasure music, Taylor Swift. Her new album Folklore was one he couldn’t pass up adding to his playlist, even if every song made him teary-eyed. 

Louis’s logic was that he’d go straight for Taylor Swift. That is until Harry stepped into the picture, now he wouldn’t leave that kid for anyone; not Taylor Swift, not Chris Evans, and not even Tom Holland. He found himself pretty damn lucky with the curly-headed kid and never wanted to let that go. 

He let the water fall over his hair that had been growing quite a substantial amount the last 2 months, Harry seemed to like it as well- he loved running his fingers through it when they were cuddled up together. 

Harry had also let his hair grow out a bit, they had decided they’d grow it out together for fun, then cut it together at the end of the summer. Louis however, was gonna have to beg Harry to keep the long hair because it was his new favorite thing. Louis said he looked like a prince with it, as it came right to his shoulders and was perfectly curled all around. 

He hopped out of the shower right as his favorite Taylor song came on, “Betty” was ringing out through his bathroom as he blew dry his hair the fastest he ever has and brushed his teeth. He made it a new habit to now start flossing since Harry had given him a 15-minute long lecture as to why it’s actually beneficial and not just some bullshit the dentists would tell you to do. And no matter how much he didn’t listen to his dentist about flossing, he’d listen to Harry. 

“Alright, I’m outta here,” Louis said, kissing his mother on the cheek, then giving hugs to his siblings. 

“You going to the fair tonight, right?” Jay asked. 

“Yeah. Meeting Niall, Ken, and Harry at Niall’s then we’re gonna go later tonight.”

“Dan and I might bring the kids down later, but we promise we won’t bother you in front of your friends.”

“No need, mom. They love you,” he waved his last goodbyes before starting down the street to head to Niall’s. What he liked about New Castle was how everything important was pretty much all within walking distance. 

Niall’s house was 6 minutes away. Kennedy’s was 8. And Harry’s was 10. Quite bullshit that Harry’s had to be the furthest, but he supposed it was better than what he had to do back home in New York. You either had to call a cab or engage in a horrendous, 20 to 30-minute walk in the middle of Manhattan where people would cuss at you if you walked by them the wrong way. 

He ran up the steps to Niall’s, excited to see Harry- and well, Niall and Kennedy too. He rang the doorbell and waited for the blonde bastard to open the door. 

“Tommoooooo,” Niall dragged out his words as he shut the door behind Louis. 

“Hey, Ni. I brought you my mom’s cookies,” he said, handing the boy a small bag filled with the chocolate chip cookies Niall had grown to love when Jay made them after having his friends over for a sleepover. 

“You’re the best. The absolute best. I could kiss you right now,” Niall smiled, grabbing the bag and immediately opening it, and shoving a cookie in his mouth.

“No, thank you,” Louis laughed as he walked up the stairs to Niall’s room. 

Kennedy was sitting in front of Niall’s mirror finishing straightening her hair when Louis walked in. 

“Hey, Ken,” he smiled, plopping onto Niall’s messy bed, he probably hadn’t made the bed in two weeks, knowing him. Kennedy was doing her hair, and Niall was halfway through the cookies he had brought him, but no sign of Harry, “where’s Harry?” Louis asked, confused. 

“Oh, he’s at work. Had to pick up an extra shift. He’s gonna meet us at the fair though,” Kennedy said turning around. 

Louis nodded and pulled out his phone.

_Louis: you didn’t tell me you went to work :( booo i miss you_

_Harry: You’ll see me tonight, love <33 _

_Louis: how dare you make me wait to kiss you_

_Harry: I’ll make it up to you_

_Louis: oh yeah? What you have in mind? ;)_

_Harry: Come home with me after the fair and I’ll show you_

Louis smiled at that text, shifting in his spot on the bed, knowing if he continued the way he was, he’d be getting a boner in front of Harry’s best friends.

“What you smirkin’ at, Tommo?” 

“Mind ya business, Niall,” Louis chirped back. 

“I just know, Haz said something dirty to you. Please don’t be getting turned on in my room, that’s just weird.” 

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Louis laughed. 

_Louis: i like the sound of that. Might even skip the fair and do that instead with u_

_Harry: No, you definitely wanna go to the fair_

_Louis: mwah see u then baby xxx_

* * *

You could see the lights flashing from the fair from a mile away, and the loud music mixing together from each ride. The fair, much like the 4th of July and the annual New Castle Christmas parade, was one of the events in town that everyone attended. It was packed with kids, babies, some of the teenagers that Louis recognized from the 4th party, and even adults were in attendance. 

They purchased their tickets as they walked in, Niall and Kennedy immediately making a bee-line for the fried dough stand right at the front entrance. Louis looked around taking in the atmosphere. It was a lot different than the types of fairs New York had. This one felt homier and inviting. Also probably had less petty crime happening in it. 

Louis immediately knew he wanted to ride the Ferris wheel which sat in the center of the fair, around it were groups of games that Louis was determined to win, even if it meant blowing through all the cash he brought with him. 

“Where did Harry say he’s gonna meet us?” Louis turned to Niall and asked. He was adding extra sugar to his and Kennedy’s fried dough, he pulled out his phone from his back pocket and typed out a quick text. 

“He’s not here yet,” Niall responded. Louis rolled his eyes, pulling out his phone too.

_Louis: hurry i miss u lots_

_Louis: need a kiss to go on_

_Louis: also cotton candy. we should share cotton candy that’d be cute_

_Harry: be there in a few minutes_

It was 15 minutes, one failed ring toss game, and 3 fried doughs later when Niall and Kennedy were dragging Louis to the Ferris wheel, the line was ridiculously long, which prompted a complaint from Louis, “Fuck no am I waiting in this line. Can we just come back later when it’s gone down and Harry is here?” 

Niall and Kennedy shook their heads, “Nope, we’re going now,” Kennedy pulled his arm into the line. The lights on the Ferris wheel were flashing bright, practically blinding Louis. He averted his attention back to his friends, “fine, but when Harry is sad I didn’t go on the Ferris wheel with him, I’ll tell him it was your fault.” 

“Fine. You little shit,” Niall added. Louis stuck his middle finger up at him before opening up his phone and mindlessly scrolling through Instagram until it was their turn on the Ferris wheel. 

Once it got to them, Niall and Kennedy walked up the platform, getting into their lift before shutting the gate. 

“The fuck? Am I supposed to ride alone then? You guys suck,” Louis pouted. Kennedy laughed, “No, silly. Get on the next one that comes around,” the lift began to move before Louis could ask what she meant. 

But alas, he waited, and then a green lift came circling around, where Louis immediately spotted his more than beautiful boyfriend proudly sitting in it. Louis smiled when it stopped in front of him. Harry had decorated that particular lift with flowers and a set of battery-powered twinkle lights. 

“You little-,” Louis hopped into the lift, looking at all the people who had all their eyes on them, “So this is what you were up to all day?” Harry nodded before leaning forward and kissing Louis. 

“Got these for you,” he handed Louis a bouquet of the most beautiful arrangement of flowers. It was lavender and white roses, decorated with eucalyptus and baby’s breath. 

Louis looked at him before grabbing the bouquet, “you really shouldn’t have, baby,” Louis began to get a bit teary-eyed, he was always a sap for romantic shit, and part of him felt like he was living out a cheesy romance film like the notebook, but he loved it all the same. 

“I wanted to though. Wanted to surprise you. Plus, it’s our anniversary from when we first met. And I’m not normally one to celebrate month anniversaries, really only 6 months and then yearly ones are the most important. But this felt necessary.” 

“Jeez, and I thought I was the sappy one in this relationship,” Louis laughed, “I love it, baby. Thank you.” He kissed him again, this time on the cheek.

Harry reached over to his side, grabbing a large plastic bag that was full of baby blue and pink cotton candy, “Here you go,” he handed it over smiling.

“Harry-”

“You said you wanted to share cotton candy, so I made Niall stall you a little longer so I could go grab some,” a blush ran across his cheeks. Louis laughed, of course, they were in on it, he was surprised they, 1. Didn’t give it away and 2. He didn’t notice anything.

“They were in on it?” Louis asked, don’t know why he was even trying to play dumb, of course, they were in on it. 

“Duh.”

“You little shit.”

“You love me.”

“Unlikely,” Louis would keep that to himself for a while. 

The sky was a soft pink color, littered with orange clouds. The sun was heading to sleep, and the moon was beginning to peek its head around the clouds. It really was the perfect set up for a moment with Harry. 

“So is this a date?” Louis asked.

“Is now,” Harry smiled, dimples poking through his soft pink cheeks. 

“How Wattpad of you.” 

“You read Wattpad?”

“Not the point.”

“Well do you?” Harry giggled, “I do.”

“Of course you do. And no.”

“Liar.”

“One time.” 

“Better not be het fics,” Harry joked, looking across at the boy. 

“Never in a million years,” Louis scoffed, “mlm always.”

“Who?”

“What?”

“Who do you read fics about? Or excuse me, who have you read _one_ fic about?” Harry said sarcastically. 

“Steve Rogers and Tony Stark.”

“Don’t think I’ll ever be able to watch The Avengers the same anymore. Thanks for putting that image in my head, Lou.” 

“You love me.”

“Unlikely.” 

* * *

Louis and Harry had been cuddled up in his bed all day. It had been raining the last 2 days in New Castle, which had given Louis the perfect excuse to stay inside with his head tucked into Harry’s chest for the better part of the weekend. 

The rain had become a constant sound after a while, it going unrecognizable as the hours passed. Kinda like a heartbeat that you never noticed unless you really focused on it. 

Despite it only being the third day of August, Harry had insisted they watch Christmas movies, including none other than; Elf, Love Actually, Santa Clause, and Die Hard (upon Loui’s request). Harry said it wasn’t a Christmas movie, while Louis argued that it most definitely was. It was an argument they’d most likely come back to when Christmas time actually rolled around. 

“I hate Christmas,” Louis muttered as Harry put on ‘Love Actually’ for the second time today.

“You grinch,” Harry hopped back into the bed, tucking himself under the blankets and into Louis’ side. He liked being the little spoon despite being 6 inches taller than his counterpart. Although if you asked Louis, he’d say they’re onto 3 inches apart. 

“Not a grinch. Just hate Christmas.”

“That’s literally the definition of a grinch.”

“Do I look fuzzy and green?”

“I don’t know, pull down your pants and let me look,” Harry joked.

“I think I’m ending things with you.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” Harry pretended to be shocked, sitting up and throwing his hands up in the air, pretending like he was on some shitty soap opera. 

“Try me, bitch.” 

A knock erupted against Louis’ bedroom door, Louis immediately moving himself away from Harry in the bed. Whoever came in would have to think they’re just bro-pals. 

“Come in,” Louis announced, trying to act like he wasn’t completely flustered from being pressed up against Harry just moments before. 

Jay walked in smiling, “Louis, you have someone here for you,” she quickly walked out, not another word or explanation. Who would be _here?_ The only people he knew in New Castle were Niall, Kennedy, and the boy who sucked him off not even 30 minutes ago. 

Louis looked over at Harry confused, who only shrugged in response. He clearly had no clue who was here either. 

“Stay here, I’ll be right back,” Louis hopped from the bed and ran down the large staircase, nearly tripping over his own feet. He had told himself that all the time he’s spent with Harry has caused him to become clumsy. That was the excuse he told himself at least. 

He walked into the kitchen, where not one, not two, not three, but four of his friends were perched at the island table. Louis’s jaw was practically on the floor. It was an influx of emotions, ranging from; _Oh my god I missed them so much, wait Harry is here they can’t know about us, what are they doing here, I love them so much._

Louis ran over to them, “What the fuck you guys?!” He yelled excitedly as he brought them all into a big group hug. 

“Missed you too much. Though we’d come to check out the place. _And_ we wanna meet your friends and your new _girlfriend_ ,” Liam teased. 

“New girlfriend?” Jay asked, “You never told me you had a girlfriend!” And well fuck, now his mother was all excited and giddy. 

“Mom, really, it’s no big deal,” Louis tried to brush past it. Ignore it. Hope it went away. 

“What’s her name, sweetheart?” Jay continued prying for answers. 

“Haley,” Gigi popped in. 

“How lovely! Darling, I’d love to meet her, why don’t you bring her over for dinner!” She brought him into a hug, one that he most definitely wasn’t expecting, nor deserved. He hated lying. 

Right then and there, Louis’ worst nightmares seemed to come true, Harry walking into the kitchen and asking, “bring who over for dinner?” 

Fuck. 

“Did you know Louis had a girlfriend?” Jay asked Harry, whose eyes went wide. 

Brooklyn was sitting at the table, eyeing Louis who was very evidently damn near close to shitting his pants. She was the only one who knew, and Louis was hoping the one who’d save his ass right now. 

“No,” he looked over at Louis, “No I didn’t.” 

This would be fine. Louis would explain the situation and it would be fine. 

“I didn’t either, he’s being very hush hush with this girl, must be special,” Jay joked. 

The thing is, yeah, the person he was dating was very special. But the ‘she’ was a ‘he’ and his name was Harry. He had curly hair and dimples, and he tripped over his own feet more than he walked properly. And he was standing not even 3 feet from them. 

He didn’t know what to say, the blank expression on Harry’s face was enough to tell him he fucked up. The guilt was already balling up in his stomach, felt like it was pressing up against all his vital organs. 

Harry looked at the time on his phone, before looking up to Jay, “Oh shit, well I have to get going. Thank you for having me, Jay.”

“Though you were staying for dinner, Harry?”

“I was, but uh my mom just texted me, needs me home,” Jay nodded, Harry turning on his heel before heading back upstairs, Louis running quickly after, telling his New York friends he’d be right back. 

“What the hell was that?” Harry asked, “Who the fuck is Haley?”

“You!” Louis responded, pulling Harry onto the bed with him. 

“What are you on about?”

“My friends caught on that I was with someone, so I lied and said it was a girl named Haley. I’m not out to them yet,” Louis grabbed Harry’s hand, rubbing his thumb over the back of it. 

“Oh,” Harry said softly, letting out a sigh of relief, “Sorry..”

“No need to say sorry, it’s on me.”

“Will you ever come out to them?”

The dreaded question. Louis didn’t know, well he really didn’t want to. But if he wanted to stay serious with Harry, he’d have to. 

Louis looked at Harry and shrugged, “Eventually. Maybe. I don’t know.”

“I don’t wanna pressure you. Not at all. I understand you not wanting to come out. But, just don’t keep lying about being with someone else.” 

“I won’t. I promise. I’ll tell them that me and that fake girl broke up or something, okay?”

“Thank you,” Harry smiled. 

Louis leaned into a kiss with him, pulling Harry’s head to his level. 

“I’ll text you, okay, baby?”

“Duh. Have fun with your friends, and by the way, they love you, Louis. No matter what, they’ll love you.”

* * *

Having his friends here in New Castle with him was different, but so worth it. There was no running around that grid system of New York City streets or hustling the food vendors to put more ketchup on their hotdogs. There wasn’t loud honking of taxi cabs 24/7 and there certainly was a weight of lies and secrets here now. 

“So, Louis, you bang her yet?” Liam joked. They were all sitting at a booth in the corner of Rosie’s Diner, Louis insisting they try the ‘New Englander hamburger’. 

“Really, Liam?” Brooklyn rolled her eyes. 

And yes, Louis said he was going to pretend he broke up with that fake girlfriend of his, but the words slipped. 

“Yeah, I did.” Brooklyn glanced at him, raising her eyebrows. He shrugged, not caring that she was going to lecture him on this later, “good, too.” 

“No shit. Louis Tomlinson finally lost his virginity. Took ya long enough,” Zayn added. 

Louis let out a fake laugh, trying to push down whatever bullshit feelings he had. Pretend like all is fine. 

“So, who’s that Harry kid?” Gigi asked, snagging one of Zayn’s french fries from his plate. 

“Just a guy I met. Just a friend of mine.”

“He seemed tense today back at your house, is he good?”

Louis nodded, “yeah just nervous around new people.” That’s a lie. Harry was probably one of the few people in the world who loved meeting new people, talking their ear off, and annoying the shit out of them with his bullshit he knows about stars and his favorite band. That’s what he did with Louis anyway. 

He’d have to tell them eventually, and he knew that. But for now, he was a straight kid who most definitely wasn’t sleeping with the star boy.

  
  



	10. Noctifer

The alcohol seeped into his veins, into his bloodstream. He downed another shot before chasing it with a random glass full of something he was pretty sure was fruit punch. 

In hindsight, drinking with his friends was a bad idea, it always ended up being. But a few drinks before a few rounds of karaoke in Louis’ basement always seemed like a good idea. Louis ignored Liam and Brooklyn on the couch, practically dry humping one another during a makeout session, and if they weren’t careful, a baby would probably be joining the friend group in 9 months. 

Right as Zayn was picking their next karaoke song, Louis’s phone began to ring from his back pocket. He pulled it out, clicking the green button, not even bothering to check who was calling. 

“Hello?” he mumbled into the phone.

“Louis? Where are you?” Harry asked. 

“My house. With the gang,” he hiccuped over the line, his words felt like one, and his tongue was slurring every vowel. 

“Are you drunk?”

“Maybe. Maybe not. Come find out,” he said seductively. 

“So I’ll take it, you forgot about our plans?”

Shit. He did make plans with Harry. Dinner at a restaurant in Manchester. He was supposed to meet him there. 

“Oh… shit. ‘M so sorry, Haz.”

“Now I’m in Manchester. Sitting alone at a restaurant. We made these plans not even 24 hours ago. Your friends have been here, what? 3 days and I get thrown to the side? Listen I understand you miss them, but next time just tell me you can’t hang out.” Harry ended the phone call then, shoving his phone in his jacket pocket and calling over for the waiter. 

“Yeah, uhm my date can’t make it anymore, but uhm I’ll pay for the drinks,” he said, pulling out the small leather wallet his stepdad bought him for his 13th birthday. He has kept it all this time and it’s damn near falling apart, especially since that time Niall threw him into the lake with all his clothes on and belongings still in his pockets. 

“Oh, I’m so sorry, and the drinks are on us. Hope the rest of your day gets better,” the blonde-haired waiter grabbed the glasses from the table, watching Harry slowly get up from his seat and head out the front door. 

It was humid out, making Harry feel sticky in his clothes, he looked up at the sky, stars settling in, he let out a sign, glancing around at them, he mumbled to himself, “what do you have planned for me,” before getting into the car and started the hour-long drive back home to New Castle. 

He turned the volume up on the radio, letting The Beatles music flood his car with light and delicate guitar sounds accompanied with powerful singing from the likes of John Lennon and Ringo Star, his two favorites of the band.

His phone kept getting phone calls from Louis, the blue heart next to the boy’s name taunting him every time he glanced at the phone screen. 

He also had to ignore every text, because as much as it was utterly difficult to ignore him, he was quite petty- didn’t wanna give Louis the satisfaction. 

_ Louis: i'm so sorry haz _

_ Louis: so fucking sorry _

_ Louis: i'll make it up to you i promise _

_ Louis: can u answer da phone xxxxx _

He turned his ringer off, and tossed his phone in the back seat of the car, opting to wait till he got home to deal with Louis. 

He was completely fine with Louis hanging out with his friends from home, and he was totally happy that Louis was happy. But he wasn’t expecting the part where his existence would turn into a lie, and he certainly didn’t think Louis would forget about him or their date.

He pulled into his driveway, not noticing the 18-year-old boy sitting on his front step. He rolled his eyes getting out of the car, walking up to the front steps he focused on the crunching sound his shoes made on the driveway made of shells. 

Louis immediately jumped up from where he was leaning against the door, and walked over to Harry, a bit of stumbling in his gate from the alcohol he was drinking just an hour and a half before. 

“Harry, baby, I am so sorry,” Louis pulled him into a hug that went unreciprocated. Harry shrugged him off, pushing around him to get into his house. The keys were fumbling in his hands trying to grab the right one for his front door. 

Louis was pulling at his arm for him to stay on the front step and talk to him. Unsuccessful. 

“You look nice,” Louis smiled, trying to bring the mood up. And he wasn’t lying, Harry, did look nice. He had on navy blue pants and a white button-down shirt that had the top few buttons undone, quite sexy if you asked Louis. 

“I know. We were going to a fancy restaurant. I tried to look nice,” Harry rolled his eyes. 

“Can you please talk to me? I’m sorry.”

“Louis,” Harry snapped back, “Look I get it that you wanna see your friends and shit, I’m fine with it. But don’t blow me off, leave me in another city, and forget about me.” He pulled his arm away, slamming the door in Louis’ face behind him. 

For Louis, it was less the fact that he had just had the door slammed in his face, but more of the fact that he knew Harry was right. He had forgotten about Harry. He had forgotten of the boy’s utter existence until the phone call he received from him when all his fond memories of the boy came flooding back at once. 

Part of him wished his friends hadn’t come to New Castle. This was his place, and he wanted to keep it that way. They could’ve waited another month for him to come home for Liam’s birthday for sure. Regardless, he was ready to down a bottle of Tito’s and pretend he wasn’t being a complete asshole. 

Harry took a deep breath, dropping his stuff on the table in the entryway, he turned around and peered out the small window that was next to his front door, he watched Louis walk slowly down to the end of the driveway. 

And okay, he was mad. Furious. Annoyed. Whatever words you wanna use to describe how he was feeling, they most likely applied to Harry, but he wasn’t a horrible person, and certainly wasn’t going to let Louis walk home drunk. 

He opened the door and called Louis’ name. 

There was a slight delay between the time Harry called his name and Louis actually turning around, whether it was from the alcohol consumption or the fact that he couldn’t believe Harry was calling his name, they’d never know. 

Louis looked at him, “Harry?”

“I’m not letting you walk back drunk, frankly I’m surprised your friends even let you come here. Do they know you’re here?”

He shook his head. 

“Told them I was going to pick up weed from Niall.”

“Niall doesn’t sell weed.”

“They don’t know that.”

“Come inside. Stay here tonight.”

Louis walked back up to Harry’s front door, a bit more tension than he had hoped for coming to Harry’s house again, but he supposed he’d live. 

Harry gave Louis an oversized t-shirt, one he figured he probably wouldn’t get back considering Louis always managed to slip away with Harry’s clothes. He’d been hoarding at least 6 shirts and 3 hoodies by now. 

Harry left the room, Louis listening to his footsteps as he walked down the squeaky staircase. He slipped off his clothes that were now littered with the scent of vodka and sweat, letting Harry’s Pink Floyd shirt drape over his small shoulders. He sat down on Harry’s bed, being engulfed by the large duvet that Harry insisted felt like sleeping on a cloud (it didn’t). 

His head was spinning and the bright lighting that Harry had in his bedroom was really no help. He turned over and stuffed his head in the pillow, hoping for it to provide some form of relief to the migraine he could feel forming in the back of his head. 

The door swung open and Louis felt a tap on his shoulder, he turned over to see the tall bastard holding a glass of water and a bottle of Ibuprofen, “Here, take a few. I’m gonna be across the hall sleeping in Gemma’s room.”

Louis shot up from his relaxed position, “What, why? I thought you’d sleep here.”

“We’ll talk tomorrow, Louis,” he grabbed some clothes from his drawers and left the room, closing the door behind himself, leaving Louis alone in the bed. 

_ Harry: am i dramatic? _

_ Niall: is this a rhetorical question  _

_ Harry: no _

_ Niall: then yes _

_ Niall: why _

_ Harry: louis. Mad at louis. don’t know if its a valid reason _

_ Niall: do tell _

_ Harry: he forgot about our date. We were gonna meet at Villaggio in manchester. So i drive up there, i check in for our reservation, and i figure he’s running a few minutes late. BUT THEN I ENDED UP SITTING THERE FOR LIKE 40 MINUTES and so i fucking called him and he fuCKING FORGOT AND WAS HOME DRUNK WITH ALL HIS FRIENDS _

_ Niall: how tf did he forget i was there when u made the plans YESTERDAY. This fool-  _

_ Harry: ever since his friends came into town he’s been pretending like i don't even exist. And when they first got here he didn't even introduce me _

_ Harry: OH and he’s been lying about who i was to them. To his new york friends, im just his “dude bro pal, harry” cause he’s not out yet. Which is totally fine but like he doesnt have to lie that he has a fucking girlfriend to cover his ass _

_ Niall: he’s- he’s lying about having a gf…. Like dude just say ur single what _

_ Harry: so im not being dramatic? _

_ Niall: no _

_ Harry: thank god. Anygays Im going to bed, im sleeping in gemma’s bed cuz Louis’s in mine.  _

_ Niall: huH???? _

_ Harry: i'll tell u tmr. Long story. Nighty night Nini luv ya _

_ Niall: smooches _

Harry put his phone on the bedside table Gemma had, which was covered in what Harry could only describe as crap she didn’t need. There were four chapsticks, all of them never touched, a rogue hair tie, a picture of her and her two best friends, an empty plastic water bottle she had left before she left for her trip to France for the summer. She said she was gonna come back fluent in French, which was unlikely considering she flunked French class her freshman and sophomore year. Harry would let her dream though. 

* * *

Harry vividly remembered his coming out. It was in 8th grade and he had just finished a very bad make-out session with Grace Kent at her 13th birthday party caused by an extremely excruciating game of 7 minutes in heaven. Niall had immediately asked Harry how it went, and the only thing Harry could respond with was, “Niall, I’m gay.” 

At first, Niall thought it was a joke, but when Harry started breaking down crying, he quickly realized it was the latter. 

As far as coming out to his mom, it was a year later, his freshman year. After debating it in his mind for approximately, 7 months, he decided it was finally time. He wasn’t necessarily worried she wouldn’t be accepting- completely the opposite in fact. But he was worried she’d look at him differently. 

He had gotten home from school, it was raining out and he left his jacket and wet converse in a soaking wet puddle in the entryway. He followed his daily routine of walking into the kitchen, greeting his mom with a kiss on the cheek, and grabbing a snack from the cabinet. 

“How was school today?” Anne had asked. She was washing a few dishes that had been sitting in the sink, starting light conversation she and her son always had each day after he got home. 

“Fine, I suppose.” He took a deep breath, he felt the words choked in the back of his throat. On the bus ride home, he had practiced what he’d say a hundred times over. He tried it a billion different ways, and finally settled on the typical, ‘ _ Mom, can we talk?’  _ And despite how easy the words were, they were much heavier than Harry had planned on. 

It was now or never. Or at least until Harry got up the courage another 7 months from now. 

“Hey, Mom?” He asked, hands shaking underneath the table, he was picking at his nails, a bad habit he acquired when he was nervous, he made a mental note to work on kicking that habit to the curb, for now, he’d focus his attention on this until further notice. 

“Yes, Harry?” Anne smiled over at him, probably expecting Harry to ask if he could sleep at Niall’s on a school night. 

“Can we- can we talk?” His voice was shaking and Anne looked up immediately noticing the change in tone. She nodded, drying her hands off on the rag draped on the oven handle. 

She had Harry follow her into the living room where they sat on adjacent couches, Harry grabbing the crochet blanket and putting it over his legs for some sense of comfort. 

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Anne letting Harry speak when he was ready. He couldn’t find the perfect moment in time when he had the world’s confidence, so he settled for a few deep breaths, pulling on the knitting of the blanket, and tapping his foot on the ground before he spoke up, “I have something I want to tell you,” he trailed off. 

She replied with a simple, “okay.” 

“And uhm, I know like if you don’t get it, but like,” he paused, picking at the knitting on the blanket again, a good distraction. 

“I’m uhm,” he stopped again because the words getting stuck in the back of his throat hurt, and fuck it was harder than he had planned, he wished he could get back on the school bus and practice a few more times.

Do it, he told himself. So he did. 

“I’m gay.” 

He felt a few tears slipping from his eyes, and no he didn’t expect to cry, but here he was picking at the knitting on the white crochet blanket and tapping his foot and crying. 

Anne stood up from her spot on the couch, walking over to Harry and immediately wrapping her arms around him. Her warmth seeped into his skin, slowly filling up his veins with comfort, and that gross feeling in his stomach from his nerves started to sink away. 

“You’re not mad?” He mumbled into her shoulder, the tears spilling from his eyes harder this time. He knew she wasn’t mad, knew she’d never be mad- but he couldn’t help the words coming from his mouth. 

“Not at all, baby. I am so proud of you. And above all else, I love you so much.” She pressed a kiss into his forehead and they stayed like that for the better part of the afternoon. And that was that. 

He knew coming out was hard, it was every emotion piled into one ball of gay, anxious, salty tears. So, the last thing he wanted to do was force Louis into such a situation just for his own benefit. But, the least he was hoping for was to not be overshadowed by some fake girlfriend that Louis had made up, nor did he want to be thrown to the side and left alone at a fancy restaurant an hour and a half away from home while the guy he was seeing was home drunk. 

Harry was tossing and turning in his sister’s extremely stiff bed. The mattress was rock solid, Harry preferred the squishy, cloud-like mattresses like his own. He squished the pillow beneath him, hoping the soft pillow would make up for the lack of comfort on his back. 

After an hour of relentless turning, Harry groaned and stood from Gemma’s bed, wrapping the soft blanket around him. He quietly padded down the hallway, he gripped his hand around the brass door handle, the cold metal stinging through his skin. He peeked in the room, pleased to see Louis was fast asleep, the side of his face pressed flat against the pillows. 

Harry tiptoed over to his bed, carefully moving the comforter over, trying not to stir Louis. He wasn’t very good at it, however. As Louis started to turn over, cracking his eyes open. He was a light sleeper. 

“Sorry, Gem’s bed is uncomfortable,” Harry said, slipping into the bed, leaving about a foot and a half of space between him and Louis, grateful for the queen size bed he has. 

“That’s the only reason?” Louis uttered, barely awake. 

Harry nodded, “yeah,” he turned his head facing away from Louis, opting to stare as his closet instead. 

“I’m mad at you,” Harry added after 5 minutes of quiet. 

“I know,” Louis was now laying face up, staring at the ceiling. 

“You’re forgetting about me,” the green-eyed boy huffed. 

Louis turned to look at him, poking him on the shoulder so Harry would do the same. Harry turned over, arching his eyebrow at Louis as if he were asking, “ _ what?” _

“I wouldn’t forget about you. Not if the world turned to ash.”

“Well, you did forget. And the world didn’t even turn to ash.” 

“Can we move on from this?” 

Harry shook his head, “you need to stop lying about some fake girlfriend first. Not blow me off. Just, don’t change because your friends are here.”

“I have to change at least a little. I don’t want them to know I’m gay yet.” 

Harry just nodded his head in silence, not knowing what else to say. He rolled back over, pulling the blanket right up to his neck, “night, Lou.” 

“Goodnight, Harry.”

  
  



	11. Siderus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains mention of death. Please proceed with caution.

The thorns on one of the roses stuck into Louis’ finger, the small dot of blood started trickling out. He brought his finger up to his mouth, sucking on it to get the bleeding to subside. He straightened out his shirt that he attempted to iron in the last 6 minutes of him getting ready. He ended up burning his hand on it. Safe to say, this is why he leaves the laundry up to his mother. 

He rang the doorbell, feeling a bit out of place not just walking straight into the house. Harry opened the door, he was dressed nicer than he normally was. He had on navy blue dress pants and a white button-down, his hair had been blow-dried and if you asked Louis, looked like he even had a bit of lip gloss on. 

“These are for you,” Louis said nervously, sticking the flowers straight out to Harry, “only fair cause you got me flowers once too.” 

It had been a week since the argument he and Harry had post-him forgetting about their date at the Italian restaurant. Louis had promised to make it up to him. Starting off with some pretty pink roses he got for the boy. 

‘Thank you, they’re lovely. I’m gonna put them in some water, come in.” Louis stepped into Harry’s foyer, watching as he grabbed a vase and filled it up with water, carefully placing the flowers in it. 

He lined up the vase perfectly on the kitchen table, knowing he’d excitedly tell his mom about the flowers he received later on that night. 

“Ready to go?” Louis asked, as Harry was grabbing his jacket and shoving his feet into a pair of Chelsea boots he decided he wanted to start adapting into his style. He nodded, heading out to Louis’ family car. 

Louis had practically begged his mom to let him use the car today, insisting it was important. He had told his mother he was taking his friends up to Manchester while telling his friends he was going up to Manchester with his family. Both were lies. 

It was a quick drive, only about 10 minutes before Louis and Harry were already in another town. Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Just as cute as New Castle, however with significantly more residents. Portsmouth had a population of 21,000, while New Castle was still struggling to reach the 1,000 marks even in the summer season. 

They drove up to a parking lot right in front of a park called Prescott Park. It was filled with people flying kites, having picnics, and picking flowers from the small beds that were hidden off to the side. 

“It’s beautiful,” Harry gaped. The large weeping willow trees were enchanting. Their leaves dipping down and nearly touching the people perched underneath them, some children pulling on their branches like a game of tug of war, “what are we doing here?” He asked. 

“You like picnics. So I have that planned. Then later will be a surprise,” he smiled, hopping out of the car and running to Harry’s door, opening it and grabbing Harry’s hand, helping him out of the large SUV. 

“Why’d you make me dress nice then?” 

“Just wanted to see you dressed up,” Louis cheesed. 

Harry rolled his eyes, “I could’ve been in shorts. It’s boiling out here.”

“Now what would the fun in that be?” Louis grabbed Harry’s hand and began to lead him towards the back of the park. Harry purposely dipped closer into the bushes, liking the feel of the leaves brushing up against him, and a great excuse to slip into the shade. He snaked his way around the flowers, letting their colors absorb him. 

“I like the flowers,” Harry smiled, giving Louis’ hand a squeeze, “Can we sit here?” 

Louis shook his head, “I have our picnic set up somewhere nice, now hush. You’ll like it more.”

“Doubtful.”

But Louis was right, he did like it more. Louis had a blanket tucked beneath a large Cherry Blossom tree. Pink flowers from the branches falling to the ground every so often. A bushel of colorful flowers next to them, right where the basket of food was. 

“Are we sure this isn’t a Wattpad fanfiction?”

“No. But I had to at least attempt to outdo your Ferris wheel extravaganza.”

“So far, you’re doing really well,” Harry pulled Louis’ hand to his lips, kissing the back of it softly. He took a seat on the red and white blanket, toeing off his shoes and putting them to the side. 

Louis pulled the basket of food to him, taking out the food he had prepared for today; sandwiches he ordered from the deli that Harry likes, fresh fruit from the farmer’s stand, and the chocolate cake they sell at the cafe, (Louis had to make sure to pick it up when Harry wasn’t working). 

The sun was peeking through the tree, coming down and shining on the right side of Harry’s face. His green eye sparkled in the light, resembling the castle in the Wizard of Oz, and the dribbles of sweat pearled on his cheeks were glowing, giving him a natural highlight that Louis was quite fond of. 

“You’re beautiful, you know?” Louis reached over and tucked a curl behind Harry’s ear, taking in every inch of his face. It didn’t cross his mind often, but moments like these made him question how he’d survive leaving Harry in only a few week’s time. Still, in one of those conversations, the two of them unanimously agreed, to never bring it up. Like they both knew neither one of them wanted to discuss it, even if no verbal statements were made stating so. 

Harry’s cheeks perked up a bright crimson, a smile inching across his face and dimples on full display, “You are too,” he smiled. 

Louis leaned over, pressing a kiss to Harry’s lips, pushing his hands up into Harry’s hair, messing the perfectly placed curls up. At the end of the kiss, that felt way too short, Louis still itching for more, they rested their foreheads against one another, their hands resting on each other against the blanket. 

And Harry was grateful that the stars lead him all the way here, sitting under the flushed cherry blossom tree with the boy from New York City. 

* * *

“I wanna know more about your family,” Louis said, biting into a piece of watermelon, some of the juice dripping down his chin, wiping it off with his arm.

“What do you wanna know?” 

“I don’t know, we never really brought it up in conversation. I haven’t met your family. Tell me about your mom, dad, I know you have a sister, what's she like?” 

Harry took a deep breath, “Well, my sister is great. Honestly one of my best friends. She’s a junior in college. Goes to UCONN. Right now though, she’s in Paris for the summer with a bunch of friends.”

“Tell her to bring me back a hot french boy,” Louis joked, prompting a punch in the arm from Harry.

“As far as my dad and mom… well, my mom is possibly the sweetest woman in the world, unfortunately, she was with a pretty shit guy, got me and Gemma out of it though. He left us after I was born, didn’t want me I guess. But my stepdad, Robin, he was, well he was who I considered my father to be. Called him Dad and everything, he died 3 years ago.” Harry’s voice trailed off at the end, choking up a bit. 

“Oh, love, I’m so sorry, I didn’t know, we don’t have to talk about-”

“No,” Harry cut him off, “I wanna talk about it. Might be good for me.” 

Louis nodded, giving Harry’s hand a squeeze, letting him continue. 

“He raised me like I was his own, same with Gems. He loved us a lot,” Harry looked down, focusing his gaze on the details in the picnic blanket, “I remember one time, when I was twelve maybe, after my biological dad tried to contact me, and I said I didn’t wanna see him, it turned into this big blowout fight. But Robin didn’t want me to be upset about it. Told me that I did have a dad, and it was him. He took me to the city for the weekend, and he did everything he could to distract me, just make me happy. It was the best weekend of my life.” 

Harry smiled, the memory clearly being positive for him, something Louis was sure Harry would think about if he needed a good smile. 

“A month later, he adopted me and Gemma.”

“He sounds amazing, Harry.”

“He was. Wish you could meet him, he’d love you. You both have the same sense of humor.” 

“Did he- did he  _ know? _ ” Louis asked carefully. 

“Yeah, he did. He was great about it too. I actually told him when he was, uhm. When he was in the hospital.” 

“Yeah? How’d it go?”

“Well, it was 2 days after I told mom. I told her that I wanted to tell him. I knew at that point he was- it was almost time. I felt like he needed to know. I didn’t want him to leave not knowing who his son truly was.” 

Louis nodded, listening intently. 

“I had mom drive me, I skipped school that day. I walked in and just told him. He told me he loved me, and that he knew. I asked him how he knew, and he said,  _ I know my son,  _ that was a good day.” 

“He sounds like he really loves you,” Louis smirked, his eyes lighting up looking at Harry, who had tears pricking at the corners of his eyes. He nodded, “Yeah, he did. I miss him a lot.” 

“Have you- have you gone to visit him?” Louis tiptoed around the question, because how do you ask someone if they went to visit his dad’s grave. 

Harry shook his head. It was one of those things he had avoided doing at all costs. His mom had gone, his sister had gone, but Harry- it was a part of his life he tried to ignore. 

“I don’t wanna go alone. And the times my family went, I wasn’t ready.” 

“Are you ready now?” 

He nodded. 

“I’ll go with you,” Louis didn’t hesitate.

Harry looked up at him, shocked at Louis’ response, “Really?” His eye lit up. 

“Wanna go now?”

“What about the rest of our date?” 

“This is just as important to me.”

And so that’s what they did. They skipped Louis’ ballroom dancing lessons he had planned for them, and instead, Louis went with Harry to visit his father. Not because he felt some overwhelming guilt like he had to, but because he wanted to. This was on that list of things Louis wanted to be there for Harry for. 

It wasn’t a far drive. 7 minutes and 18 seconds to the cemetery and a significantly uncomfortable 2 minutes walk to his stone. They kept their hands intertwined through the whole thing, though. Every so often, Harry squeezing Louis’ hand for some type of feeling, whether that be comfort or grounding, hand squeezing seemed to do the trick. 

The sun was shining bright that day. It was 86 degrees, no wind chill, not a piece of white cotton candy in the sky, yet somehow it still felt dark and cold at the cemetery. It was large considering New Castle had like 30 people on a good day. And most of the stones were aged and cracked. As far as Robin’s stone went, it was tucked in the back with a few dozen newer stones. They were still grey and yet to have moss covering them. 

It was silent walking over there, only the sound of their shoes hitting twigs and leaves that had somehow stayed on the ground through the seasons. Louis was glancing down, reading the stones, waiting for the one to catch his eye. 

_ Robin Twist _

_ June 27, 1967–June 20, 2017 _

_ “The most beautiful things in the world cannot be touched. They must be felt with the heart.”  _

It was a beautiful quote, one from the late, Hellen Keller. Louis liked it, figured it was one he was going to tuck in his back pocket and remember forevermore. Because now that Robin has passed, he is one of the beautiful things that cannot be touched anymore, but Harry and his family would still be able to feel him. Feel him when they smelled his cologne in public or saw his favorite movie playing on cable, or when they decide to wear one of his big t-shirts. Because that is when they’ll be able to feel him once more. And part of Louis hopes that bringing Harry here will help him with that. 

Harry was standing in front of the stone, looking down. He didn’t speak for nearly 20 minutes. Just stared, and Louis let him. Didn’t pry, didn’t pressure him to do anything. 

Then he finally spoke, it was a whisper, so quiet that it could be passed off as a whistle in the trees. He let go of Louis’ hand finally as well, taking a step closer to the stone. 

“I miss him,” Harry sank down next to the gravestone, his knees digging into a spot of mud from the previous night’s rain. He didn’t care about the stains that would be on his pants, (something Anne would definitely scold him over). He dragged his fingers along the carved out letters, tracing the name “Robin”. 

Louis got down to his level, placing a hand on his back, “What was his favorite food?” 

“What?” Harry questioned, looking over at Louis confused. 

“Just answer the question.”

“Uh, he really liked those BLTs from Rosie’s Diner,” Harry responded, still wondering why Louis had asked. 

“Good. Now every time you have a BLT from Rosie’s, you can think of him.” Harry smiled. Louis was good with this kind of stuff, knew how to really strike it hard to someone’s heartstrings, while also making them feel better all at the same time. 

They stayed there for two hours. Louis allowing Harry his time to cry, laugh and feel connected to his dad once more. And no, it wasn’t the date that Louis had planned, nor was it the positive, lovey romance movie moment he was going for- but somehow it was better in the end. Louis feeling closer to Harry by the end of it. 

* * *

“Sorry we didn’t get to do the original date you had planned for us,” Harry said as Louis pulled into his driveway. 

Louis put the car in park, the only light provided to them was the front porch light and the beam of the headlights bouncing off the house and back to them. 

“Don’t be sorry. This was just as nice.”

“What was the rest of the date planned, anyway?” Harry asked. Louis growing a smirk on his face. 

“How about I show you,” Louis said, changing the station on the radio to some slow 40’s music before hopping out of the car. 

Harry looked puzzled, followed along nonetheless. He got out of the car, mud still covering his trousers, and walked over to Louis, who was standing in front of the headlights of the car. 

“What’s this?”

“We’re dancing,” Louis reached his arms out for Harry, who walked over to him, letting his arms fall around Louis’ torso, while Louis’ rested just around Harry’s neck. 

“This was the date?”

Louis nodded, “Was gonna take you dancing. This is better though, I got to avoid the embarrassment of stepping on your toes in public.” 

Harry giggled, “Yeah, now you can just do it in my driveway.” 

“Exactly,” he let his head fall against Harry’s chest, allowing himself to listen to the boy’s heartbeat. 

They let themselves fall into the moment, let their bodies move in tune to the soft strum of Frank Sinatra playing from the radio in Louis’ car, who had left the door open so the music could make its way to them. 

Above them, a night sky, almost as beautiful as the feelings they had for one another.  _ Almost.  _

The waxing gibbous sitting plump in the sky cast a gaze over the two of them, making Louis feel that much more magical than he was previously. Because after years of feeling like he wasn’t himself, and never would be- he found himself happily swaying under the moon with that same boy who is obsessed with the stars, and he felt more himself than he ever did before. 

“Have you ever seen a shooting star?” Louis asked, his eyes glaring up at the sky. 

“No, you?” 

“Yeah, look up.” 

Harry did, and so be it, a bright shooting star was running past the sky like a mini rocketship of light. 

The smile on Harry’s face was one you couldn’t recreate even if you tried, couldn't capture the joy even with a camera. Harry pulled Louis in tight to him, holding him close.

“Make a wish,” Harry kissed into Louis’ hair. 

“Already did.” 

“What did ya wish for?” Harry looked down at him.

“Can’t tell you or it won’t come true,” Louis smiled proudly. 

Harry rolled his eyes, “I’m exempt from that rule,” Louis laughed at him, “That’s not how it works.” 

“Shhh, it is now.”

“Well, I am not telling you mine,” Louis pouted. Prompting a groan from Harry. The song “Day by Day” started playing from the car, the muffled song sounding somehow prettier than it would normally. 

The lyrics started to echo through, 

_ Day by day _

_ I'm falling more in love with you _

_ And day by day _

_ My love seems to grow _

As far as they were concerned, those words were forbidden with them, they opted to let the song lyrics speak for them. 

Louis pressed his forehead into Harry’s chest, letting Harry guide their slow movements to the music. 

_ There isn't any end to my devotion _

_ It's deeper, dear, by far _

_ Than any ocean _

_ I find that day by day _

_ You're making all my dreams come true _

They’d keep it to themselves for a while, and that seemed quite alright for now. Because maybe by the end of it, they wouldn’t be meant to be. It was all up to fate at this point. 

_ I want you to know _

_ That I am yours alone _

_ And I'm in love, in love to stay _

_ As we go through the years _

_ Day by Day _

_ I said say by day _

_ As we go through the year _

_ Day by day _

  
  



	12. Stella

Louis woke up early on that Tuesday morning, it was raining and the feeling of the day was already dampened. He had only 3 weeks left before he inevitably had to go back home to Manhattan. And the heavyweight of knowing he has to leave Harry has been hanging over his shoulders. He was planning on completely ignoring the conversation for as long as he could, he had avoided it for nearly 2 months already- he figured what’s another 3 weeks. 

But the thing was, he couldn’t do it much longer. Because the feeling was eating away at his stomach and he felt like shit. It was all he could think about at any given moment, and when he was with Harry he felt easily like the worst not boyfriend ever.

There were too many external factors to consider. And it would truly just be easier if he did it. 

He reached over and grabbed his phone, clicking on Brooklyn’s name. 

“It is 8 in the morning,” she answered. 

“Can you come over? I need your help.” Louis asked eagerly. He needed advice. And normally he’d go right to Zayn, but with his current situation- that wasn’t in the cards. 

“Yeah… Everything okay?” 

Louis shook his head, hoping that maybe she’d hear his head movements. 

“No,” his voice choked up, “I think I need to end things with Harry.” 

The line was silent on Brooklyn’s end. After a few moments, she finally spoke up, “Louis… why?” 

“I don’t think I can handle saying goodbye to him when we go back home.”

“I’m coming over. Be there in 10.” The line went dead, Louis chucking his phone back down and closing his eyes. Bathing in the silence until Brooklyn arrived. 

* * *

“Okay. Spill,” Brooklyn shut Louis’ door behind her, waiting no time before going straight over to Louis and looking him dead in the eyes. 

“Hello to you too,” he rubbed his eyes, sitting up in bed. 

“Louis, what the fuck are you on about? I have never seen you this happy. Why end something good?” 

“Not everywhere is New Castle, Brooklyn.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Not everywhere is gonna be this freeing for me. When I’m here, I get to be the person I was always meant to be. I get to be that person with  _ him.  _ And going back home won’t be the same. Trying to make, whatever this is,” he flew his arms around, “work from hours away, won’t be easy.”

“No one said it’s supposed to be easy.”

“I’ll have to come out,” he looked down.

Brooklyn just nodded, trying to figure out what to say. 

“It’s hard. I know. And it sucks so bad. But do you really wanna lose Harry?”

No, he didn’t. He was scared to admit how strong the feelings he had for Harry actually were, so running and ignoring it all together seemed like the perfect option for him. 

“I gotta do it, Brooklyn.” 

She shook her head, “You’ll regret it.”

“Maybe,” he stood up, walking over to the window. Outside he watched the raindrops hit the street, puddling by the sidewalk, “but I’ll deal with that later.” 

Brooklyn settled back into the bed, taking in a breath, “Doing it today?” 

He nodded. 

“You know he can count the stars and call them all by name,” Louis smiled. Thinking of the boy whose smile always got 10 times bigger when he was doing what he loved.

Brooklyn wrapped her arm around Louis’s shoulder, “I’m here for you, ya know?” 

“I know. I gotta get it over with.” 

_ Louis: can i pick you up today at 1?  _

_ Harry: it’s a date _

Louis felt a pit in his stomach, Harry wouldn’t see this coming. He is expecting a date, probably another, dancing in the driveway, moment. Ignore it. Deal with it later. 

“Criminal Minds?” 

“Oh, always,” she pulled him down, grabbing the tv remote from his bedside table, “Spencer Reid is mine, though.”

“In your dreams.” 

* * *

Harry opened up the passenger side door, hiding under an oversized hoodie from the rain. He slid into the seat, leaning over and pressing a kiss to Louis’ cheek. 

“Hey!” Harry smiled. 

Louis forced a smirk on his face, telling himself to hide any emotion. 

“You okay?” Harry inquired, his emerald eyes sparkling at Louis. 

“Great. Rosie’s Diner?” Harry nodded. 

The pair sat opposite one another in the red booth, both of them ordering milkshakes. 

Louis, chocolate. 

Harry, vanilla. 

“I hate the fucking rain,” Louis looked out the window.

“I love it.” 

“You love everything.”

“Well nature is beautiful,” Harry grinned. 

“Weirdo…” 

Harry laughed, kicking Louis under the table, “Will you share onion rings with me?”

“I suppose.”

“Okay seriously, Lou, what’s going on? You’re being weird.” 

Louis looked down at the table, twirling his straw around in the milkshake, “Nothing’s going on. Just a lot on my mind. All good,” lying through his teeth. 

Harry rolled his eyes, placing his hand on Louis’ arm, “You’re a horrible liar. Wanna talk about it?” 

“Harry, I’m good,” Louis pulled his arm away. 

He was cold. Louis could feel himself pulling away from Harry, he wasn’t planning on acting like this- nor did he expect Harry to notice any changes. 

Harry just nodded, he took a sip of his drink before the waitress came back over. 

“What can I get y’all to eat?” The waitress was older, and she had a thick southern accent. Not something you expect in New Castle. Must be from Alabama. 

“Uh, I’m just gonna get the traditional burger, no pickles. Side of fries. Thank you,” Harry handed the menu over to the waitress, who was scribbling on the pad of paper in her hand. 

“New Englander please, then we’re gonna get onion rings.”

“I don’t want them anymore. You can have them,” Harry spoke up. He was being petty, Louis could tell. 

“Hold the onion rings then. Thanks.”

They sat quietly for a few minutes, Louis scrolling through his phone. 

It was awkward and uncomfortable for the both of them, something that they hadn’t expected between the two of them. Since they met, everything had flown perfectly. Everything had made sense and they never had to force a conversation. 

Today was the first time neither of them wanted to speak up. 

Harry felt like he was eating lunch with someone he had never even met before. This Louis felt like one of the guys that would play with his feelings and date him as a joke. Not the soft, theatre boy who loved listening to Harry talk more than anything. 

Louis didn’t wanna speak, worried that he’d accidentally end things between them over their food. He needed to wait until they were back at the house. 

“So, how do your friends like New Castle?”

Louis looked up at him, “they like it.”

“Big change from New York, huh?” 

He only got a nod in response. 

And that's all they said. They sat in silence while they ate, and when the check came, Louis threw down a twenty-dollar bill, before standing up and getting ready to leave. 

Harry followed him out to the car, trying to flash a smile at Louis to cheer him up. It couldn’t have been him, certainly not. He and Louis were happy and had been the last 2 months. Must’ve been something at home, and Harry wasn’t going to pry. 

Louis twisted the knob on the radio, letting the music overcome him. It eased his nerves and slightly numbed the pit in his stomach. 

They were driving for 5 minutes before Harry spoke up, “Can you stop the car?” 

“Why?” Louis asked, looking over at him puzzled. 

“I wanna stop and feel the rain,” Harry answered. 

“We’re in the middle of a thunderstorm, and you wanna stop and feel the rain?” 

Harry nodded. And much to his surprise, Louis pulled off to the side of the road. He watched as Harry hopped out of the car, and stood in the middle of the street. 

The rain fell down on him, drenching his hair, letting the curls mat to his forehead. He didn’t care about the rain that was filling his converse with water, and he didn’t care about whatever Louis was thinking. He liked the feeling and liked how free he felt. Even just for a moment. 

Harry heard footsteps before looking to his right and seeing Louis who had begun standing next to him. 

“What are you doing?” Harry asked. 

“Joining you.” 

Harry nodded slowly, before mumbling an “okay” under his breath. Probably one that Louis didn’t even hear. 

So they stood in the rain. And those were the last few moments of happiness for them. But neither of them knew that then. 

* * *

“What’s gonna happen when you go back,” Harry muttered under his breath. He was sitting on Louis’ bed, his feet pressed firmly on the ground- feeling far too uncomfortable in a space that normally felt like a second home. 

Louis barely looked up from his phone, “Don’t know,” he shrugged it off, 

“Well can we talk about it?” Harry turned to him and inquired. 

“Suppose.”

“Do you wanna stay together?”

Louis chuckled, “I mean we’re not technically together.” 

Harry looked at him, arching his eyebrows, “Are you kidding?” 

“No?” Louis finally looked up from his phone, to see a less than pleased Harry glaring at him, “I don’t really get how this could go anywhere, Harry. We live hours away. And I am most definitely never coming out.”

“Never?”

“I can’t. I don’t need anyone looking at me differently.”

“So live your life in a lie? What are you gonna do? Go back to New York and fuck the gay away with some cheerleader?” Harry rolled his eyes, not sure whether he was more annoyed at Louis or more annoyed at this dense fucking society where only gay people have to come out. 

“I guess so. Harry, I’m doing you a favor. You’re just too irrational to see that right now.” Harry scoffed at that. 

“I’m being irrational?” the boy barked. 

“That’s not what I meant-”

“Well, it’s what you said.” 

“Harry I just. Can we talk about this all later?” Louis looked over at him, watching tears form in Harry’s eyes. He hated watching this. Hated doing this. Hated hurting him.

“Louis, you are- you are making no sense,” Harry choked back the tears, trying to hide the thick lump in his throat. 

“You don’t get it do you, Harry? I can’t come out to my family, or my friends. This just, it’s not gonna work, okay!”

“Why are you yelling? Christ, Louis. I’m just really fucking confused. We just had a date that went wonderfully last week. So sorry if I need some clarification.” 

He let the tears come down now. They were slow and steady, streaming down his face at an even rate, and he only noticed them when he tasted the saltiness of the teardrops come down on top of his lips. 

“Harry, I just- I’m sorry. You just don’t understand. It’s too fucking hard.”

“I can promise you, I of all people know how fucking hard it is.

Harry got up from his spot on the bed, he began pacing around back and forth. He didn’t know what else to say. Didn’t even wanna finish this conversation anymore, he wanted it to all stop. Because suddenly time was going so fast, and he was certain that the clock on the nightstand was turning seconds into minutes. 

“Listen, do we really need to have this conversation now? Let’s just enjoy the rest of the day. We can finish this later.” 

“Yes. Yes, we fucking do. Because up until now I thought this was something more. But I guess to you, it’s just play.”

“Everything is temporary, Harry. This is just one of those things.”

“Forget it, you’re a fucking asshole,” Harry grabbed his bag from the corner of the room, slinging it over his shoulder, “I never thought you’d be the one to hurt me.”

And then he left. 

Louis fell back onto his bed and started sobbing. It had hit him that he had let the best thing he had ever had slip away. And Brooklyn was right, he fucking regretted it already. 

  
  



	13. Stellifer

Harry always loved something about feeling in the air the day after a big rainstorm. The rainbow in the sky, the cool air, and all the puddles on the side of the road. When he was a kid he always made his sister take him outside to splash in the puddles, play in the mud, and ultimately ruin his clothes. 

This day was no different. Besides the absence of his sister, Harry was standing in his backyard, stomping around in the puddles, ruining his sneakers. He didn’t care. 

He had his earbuds in, blasting the _Folklore_ album by Taylor Swift, because yeah listening to Taylor Swift to mend his broken heart was absolutely self-care. And when he started feeling numb, he’d play _Dear John_ to cry again. Worked every time. 

Someone could scream and he wouldn’t be able to hear it. This is why Niall had to clap in front of his face to gain his attention.

“Jesus, what do you want?” Harry pulled one earbud out, letting it hang from his neck. 

“Dude, what happened with Louis?”

“Nothing happe- wait, how do you know?” Harry hadn’t told any of his friends and wasn’t planning to. He was just gonna let them realize it themselves because for fuck’s sake, it was too difficult to get the words out himself. 

“Kennedy and I figured it out. We saw you listening to Taylor Swift on Spotify. And then you were tweeting sad breakup lyrics. Kinda put 2 and 2 together,” Harry sighed only nodding, “So what the fuck happened?” Niall added on. 

Harry dug his toe into the mud, distracting himself and secretly hoping that Niall will opt out of this conversation. 

He didn’t Only prying more. 

The boy groaned, throwing his head back. 

“We broke up. Well if you can even call it that, he made sure to remind me, we were  _ not  _ dating. Said it was all temporary,” He could feel the tears prickling up again in his eyes. Begging internally that Niall wouldn’t ask any other questions. Unlikely.

“What the fuck. Did he say anything else?” 

Niall walked over to Harry, putting his arm around the boy for some comfort. 

“It wasn’t gonna work. He didn’t wanna come out. I don’t know, Ni, I don’t really wanna talk about it.”

“You did, huh?”

“I did.”

They knew what the other meant by that. But Harry didn’t dare say it out loud. 

* * *

He had made at least 12 ice coffees already and it had only been 15 minutes into his shift. He even managed to spill a whole pot of coffee, not only burning all down his legs but staining his white shoes and making an absolute mess of the workspace. 

He took a deep breath in before slamming the coffee pot back onto the counter, mumbling a “fuck” under his breath. The line of customers was starting to form out the front door, he wasn’t ready to serve more people. 

Ava came barging through the front door, “Hi hi, here to help. Kennedy texted me that you’re crazy busy,” she threw an apron over her neck, tying the strings around her back. She grabbed a mop from the back closet, “here, I’ll clean this, go help customers.”

Ava was a godsend. Harry walked over to the counter, serving five more customers, luckily having no more spills of coffee. After topping off a coffee with some froth, Harry looked over at the next customer. 

Louis Tomlinson. 

Harry rolled his eyes, “Ken, can you get this customer,” he snapped. 

“Harry, wait!” Louis tried to shout after him, but he had already walked straight to the backroom. 

Louis sighed, looking back at Kennedy, “Hi Kennedy,” he smiled softly. 

“Louis,” oh she wasn’t pleased with him either. 

“Are you mad at me too?” He asked desperately. 

“Yes. And rightfully so. You hurt my best friend. Now, what can I get for you?”

He let out a huff, “uh, just a cappuccino. He handed over a 5 dollar bill, throwing the remaining change into the tip jar, decorated with the words “COLLEGE FUND” in bright colors, and tons of doodles, probably from Harry all around it. 

She walked away, going to the machine, and filling up a small beige cup with the drink. 

“It was bad, huh?” Ava whispered to Kennedy, who nodded in response. 

“Never seen H this upset,” she started making a small design in the foam on top, pulling a knife through the white bubbles. 

“Me neither. Do you think we should beat Louis up?” Ava joked. Although, Kennedy wasn’t opposed. 

“I think we should just let Harry mourn. Listen to his sad Taylor Swift music and hopefully move on eventually.” 

“That’ll take forever.”

Louis took his cappuccino from Kennedy, thanking her before heading to his usual table in the coffee shop. 

Harry peeked his head out of the backroom, “is he gone?” He whispered. 

Ava shook her head, “he’s sitting at his table. Gonna be here awhile I presume.”

Harry was certain Louis was just mocking him at this point. Because of fucking course he has to come in, right when Harry is working and he also seems to have the  _ audacity  _ to sit and look all pretty in the corner of the shop. Mocking, truly, it was a mockery. 

He walked back to the pastry case, trying to make it look like he was busy. He could feel Louis’ eyes on him, and he couldn’t just stand there and stare back. Well, he could, but he was going to stay strong. No going back and no letting Louis smooth him over. 

He grabbed a pastry paper, grabbing a bagel for the next customer. It was one of their regulars, he already knew their order. Harry placed it in the toaster, trying his hardest not to turn around and glance at Louis like he so wanted to. 

It was the longest shift of his life. With the number of customers who had come in and the aching pit in his stomach of knowing Louis was only 10 feet away- Harry could hardly focus. 

“I’m going on break. Be back in 30,” Harry grabbed his phone from the back room, dropping his apron off and putting it on the hanger, “Want anything from Rosie’s?” 

“Nah, I’m good. Thanks though.”

Harry planned on slipping out the front door when Louis wasn’t looking. But the stars chose not to align in his favor in this particular moment because as he quickly jogged out the rickety, front door he heard Louis’ voice behind him. 

“Haz!”

He rolled his eyes, refusing to even turn around and look at the boy, “Go away, Louis,” he kept walking, kept his head up and he was pretty sure the only thing keeping him headstrong was the reputation album playing through the earbud in his left ear. 

“No, I need to talk to you.”

Harry, despite being absolutely heartbroken, was absolutely enraged by the sheer nerve to pull the stunt that he did just a week ago, and now wants to “talk”. He ignored him, kept walking, even picking up the pace, hoping deep down Louis would give up. 

“Harry!” Louis shouted after him. 

“What?!” He finally turned around, his eyebrows pinched together staring at Louis who looked shockingly more vulnerable than Harry was anticipating. But he couldn’t let that smooth him over. 

Louis slowed down, he stopped and leaned his hand on a nearby bench, “Can’t you just talk to me for two minutes? Please.” 

Harry shook his head almost instantly, “I can’t,” his voice cracked. 

“And why not? Don’t you still l-like me?”

“Of course I still like you,” he sighed, he walked over to Louis, looking him directly into his eyes. The same eyes that were the color of the ocean, and looked like ice when the sun hit them just right, “but trusting you is a different question.” 

* * *

Louis threw himself onto the couch, tossing his feet up onto the side of it. He sank back into the cushions, exhaling as he fell into it. 

He closed his eyes, intent on taking a nap, passing time without having to actually live in the moment. And if he closed his eyes tight enough, he could actually see Harry’s face. And that was the best thing to fall asleep to. 

He let his body fall back relaxed, sleep already taking over his every sense. 

The sound of the doorbell echoed through his ears, he slowly stood up annoyed at the disruption that was infecting his sleep. 

On the other side of the door, Harry stood, his back carrying a bright red backpack. 

Louis’s jaw was practically on the floor, and he could barely spit out his words, “What are you doing here?”

Harry slung the bag off his shoulders, digging into it and grabbing 2 sweatshirts, a pair of sweatpants, and a few baggy t-shirts. 

“Here. These were at my house, I don’t want them at my house.” 

Louis would be lying if he wasn’t wishing deep down that Harry was here for other reasons, here to finally listen to Louis cry about why he regretted it already and how so hopelessly in lo- no. Not yet. 

“Oh, I- uh, you could’ve kept them,” Louis reached out and grabbed the clothes, grateful that Harry’s scent had stuck to them by now. 

“I don’t want them. Bye,” Harry turned around, beginning to walk down the pebbled pathway. 

“Wait,” Louis called after him, Harry turned around, mouthing a simple “what?”

“What if I never see you again?” Louis answered softly. 

The weight of that reality was falling on his shoulders like a ton of bricks. For a whole summer, he had Harry in the palm of his hands, right in arm’s reach. He got to know every aspect of Harry, and suddenly he knew, this could be the last time. 

“That’s what you wanted anyway.” 

Louis shook his head fast, “No. It’s not. I messed up.” 

“Yeah, well according to you, everything is temporary, Louis. Enjoy your senior year,” he walked away, and the last Louis saw of Harry for that summer was him pushing open the gate at the end of the driveway. 

Louis slammed the door shut because it was all bullshit. And it was all his fault. 

He stomped back to his spot on the couch, huffing out a strong breath.

“What’s wrong, baby?” His mother walked into the living room, “I saw Harry outside.”

“Nothing just got into a fight,” he had his eyes closed because maybe keeping his eyes closed would prevent his mom from asking any more questions. 

She sat down on the end of the couch, rubbing his leg, “Aw, I’m sorry, Louis. Friends get into fights all the time. I’m sure you’ll be better tomorrow.”

If only it could be all better tomorrow. 

“Your friends are coming over for dinner, by the way. I invited them,” Jay smiled, standing up to head into the kitchen. 

Louis shot his head up at her, “Why would you do that?” he snapped. 

“What’s with the attitude from you?”

“I’m just not in the mood to see them,” he laid his head back down, and fuck when did he get a headache. 

“Well, they’re coming over. And get that attitude in line. Not a cute look.”

Jay walked into the kitchen, beginning to prep the dinner she was making. Louis dragged himself off the couch and up into his bedroom. He fell face-first into it and he couldn’t tell if his mind was playing tricks on him or if his bed really did still smell like Harry. 

He dozed off, letting himself become engulfed in the sheets that still had that deep vanilla scent. 

Louis hated those naps where the dreams seemed too god damn realistic. And, of course, that’s what he got. 

Harry had rung the doorbell, walked in, and told Louis he wanted to talk. And Louis was given the opportunity to talk. And it was like they never even fought. It was too good to be true, which is why when he woke up from that nap from the sound of Dan calling his name, he felt even worse. 

His mom had set a whole feast on the table, and Louis was welcomed by his friends all laughing and shouting his name as he entered the dining room. 

Brooklyn looked over at him and gave a soft smile. She knew and he didn’t have to say anything. Louis looked away, he turned his head towards the other side of the room, he sucked in a breath.  _ Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry. _

Louis’s mother was always good with conversation, which at this moment, Louis was quite thankful for. Because she was chatting up a storm with all his friends. 

Zayn was at the end of the table goofing off with Phoebe and Daisy, (they always had a bit of an obsession with him), Liam was talking to Jay about his birthday coming up, and Brooklyn and Gigi were talking with Lottie and Fiz. Louis found himself ignoring all conversation with everyone, he was disgustingly bitter and if someone breathed around him the wrong way, he’d probably snap at them. 

“Louis, you’re talkative today,” Liam laughed. 

“It’s a refreshing change. The kid never shuts up. I could get used to this,” Lottie poked at him.

Louis rolled his eyes, letting out an annoyed “haha,” before poking his fork into a piece of steak. 

“Don’t mind him everyone, he’s in a bit of a mood after an argument with his friend, Harry,” and of course his mother had to bring it up.

“That freak? Honestly, Louis, I’m surprised your friends with him,” Gigi laughed. Fuck her. Yeah, fuck her. He wanted to kick her out of that house. 

His friends laughed, “Yeah, honestly Louis, was kinda surprised seeing him here. There’s something about him. Doesn’t seem like the type of person you hang with.” Zayn added, handing a napkin to Daisy who had spilled some food on her shirt. 

Louis felt his brows furrow down, and he sniffled hard, “he’s not a freak.”

“Geez, Lou. Was just a joke,” she quickly answered after noting the tone in Louis’ voice. 

This conversation was going places bad and Louis knew it. The tension among the room was already growing thick, and it could be cut with a knife. 

“Well, it wasn’t funny,” he snapped back. The room fell quiet after that. The only sounds that could be heard were babbling from the babies and clinking of utensils on plates. 

Louis wanted dinner to be over and wanted to tell everyone to leave. Yet, he’d probably be stuck with them here for the rest of the night. His mom planning a movie night for everyone. 

“Louis, calm down. It’s not that big of a deal,” Liam piped in. And if there was one thing in the world that Louis hated the most, it was being told to “calm down.” His face was hot and if he were living in a cartoon, there would probably be steam coming from his ears. 

He threw his fork down and looked over at Liam, “it is a big deal. And don’t tell me to fucking calm down.”

Jay’s jaw fell to the floor, “Louis! Language!” 

Their family had one rule: no swearing in front of the kids.

“Lou, sorry, but we were just making jokes. Why does it matter so much,” Liam was looking around the table to see what everyone’s reactions were. They were all just staring at Louis, and no one knew what to do. Dinner had completely halted. 

“Because I’m not gonna let you guys talk about him like that!” 

“Why do you care so much?!” 

“Because Harry and I were seeing each other!”

And he most definitely was  _ not  _ planning on that coming out at the dinner table. But it was out now and he couldn’t do anything about it. But god, he much preferred only Lottie and Brooklyn knowing. 

Everyone stopped and looked at him. A silence fell on the group. Louis felt tears falling down his cheeks, and god he was not expecting this rush of emotion. 

“Louis… are you- are you gay?” Liam asked. 

More tears. Lots more. He only nodded and the word “yes” seemed too difficult to get out. 

More silence in the room. And he hated it, he wanted it to all go away. Louis stood up, throwing the napkin on his lap onto the table, he ran upstairs and slammed his bedroom door behind him. 

He wanted to text Harry. Wanted to tell him that he accidentally came out and no one said anything. 

He unplugged his phone from the charger, typing out a quick message. 

_ Louis: harry im sorry i know u dont wanna talk but i accidentally came out and idk what to do i cant stop crying _

The message went through green. Harry had blocked his number, and somehow Louis found himself crying even harder. 

* * *

It felt like hours had gone by. Felt like it could even be the next day. But realistically, it had only been 6 minutes before Louis heard a knock on the door. 

“Louis, baby? Can I come in?” His mother’s soft voice was echoing on the other side of the door. He heard the jostling of the doorknob, “Louis, unlock the door.” 

He dragged himself up, wiping his eyes with the sleeve of his hoodie. The grey sweatshirt sleeves were stained with water droplets of his tears. 

His mother walked in, immediately wrapping her arms around him. She pulled him into a tight hug, rubbing her hand up and down his back. Louis tucked his face into the crook of her neck, letting out the chocked out sobs. 

“I’m so sorry,” he mumbled into the hug. 

“What are you sorry for?” She asked, pulling him in tighter. 

“Being gay,” he shouldn’t have had to apologize. And he knew that. But the amount of internalized homophobia that he felt coursing through his body had been amplified by ten when everyone stayed silent downstairs. 

She pulled away from him, holding his arms and looking her son in the eyes, “You do  _ not  _ have to apologize for that. Ever. We all love you so much.”

Louis pulled her back into a hug, “I love you. Promise you’re not mad?”

“I promise, baby.”

She brought him over to the bed and sat him down, “Do you wanna talk about Harry?” 

He shook his head. 

“Eh. I just messed up so badly.”

“It’ll all work out in the end. If it’s meant to be, it’ll be,” she pressed a kiss into his hair. 

He chuckled, “you sound exactly like him.” 

“Do I?” she laughed, “Well, he’s a great boy. Just wait for it all to work out.”

“But we’re leaving soon,” he sighed. 

She nodded, “I’m sorry.” 

He leaned into her shoulder, letting her rub his arm up and down. 

“Wanna go downstairs,” she asked. He nodded. 

Downstairs, Louis was wrapped in his friends’ arms within seconds. It was a wave of relief and love washing over him all at once. 

“We love you so much, Louis,” Zayn kissed his forehead. 

“Yeah, and we’re so sorry. For the jokes. And I’m sorry for prying,” Liam added, pulling Louis tight in. 

‘Thank you for apologizing.”

“Does this mean that Haley is Harry?” Gigi laughed. 

Louis nodded, “Yeah,” he smiled, “yeah he is.” 

  
  



	14. Stellimicans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the shortest chapter of the book, which I know, is very annoying. But it didn't feel right to make it longer. Hope you don't mind too much. It's kind of a filler chapter if I'm being quite honest. x

It was a hard day for the whole family, more specifically, Louis. He found himself packing his clothes into his suitcase slower than he normally would. Prolonging his stay even just a few minutes. He dug through his dresser drawers, pulling out a pile of wrinkled t-shirts that had gone practically untouched the whole summer. Tucked in the corner was a large Beatles shirt. It was Harry’s. Louis brought it up to his face, inhaling the smell. 

He hadn’t seen Harry since that last day he stopped by the house to drop off his things. He had been blocked from every form of social media, being ripped away from even being able to look at the boy. 

Louis took the shirt, folding it up neatly into a perfect square. He placed the shirt onto his bare mattress. He was leaving it here. He didn’t dare bring that piece back with him. It was a reminder he knew he didn’t need. 

Louis’s mom decided that it would be best if they all left before Liam’s birthday. There was nothing left for them there, and Jay could tell that going home sooner would benefit Louis. 

Dan knocked on the door before walking in, “All set with your suitcase? I’m packing them all into the car.” 

Louis nodded, zipping up the sides of it, “Yeah, everything’s in here.” 

He plopped the suitcase upright, rolling it over to Dan. 

“Thanks, in the car in five,” he smiled before leaving, tugging the black baggage behind him. 

Louis sat on the mattress, looking around the room that he had rid of any remnants of his personality, the only thing remaining was a few lamps and the furniture. 

He slung his backpack over his shoulder, standing up, and looked around the last time. 

“Bye, New Castle,” he turned the light off before shutting the door behind him. 

His sisters were sitting on the front porch sharing earbuds, probably blasting some random British boy band like they always were. 

He walked over to the SUV hopping into the third row. 

His mom came and climbed in next to him, “you’ll see him again,” she placed her hand on his leg, squeezing it. 

“Are we coming back next summer?” 

She shrugged, “Probably.” 

“Guess I’ll have to wait till then.” 

The night before leaving, Louis went to the spot behind the lighthouse. Part of him had hoped he’d run into Harry. But for the 3 hours he spent there, he laid completely alone. The only thing keeping him company was a few bunnies sitting by the edge of the forest. 

Laying up, staring at the sky felt weird without Harry right beside him. There was an emptiness, like the only thing left was the ghost of him. 

He tried finding a constellation. Tried to spot one on his own, but just when he thought he saw one, he knew it was just imagination. He missed Harry whispering next to him, “that one is Ursa Minor.”

Louis could never see them. 

_Where Harry?_

_Right there!_ And Harry would grab Louis’s hand and use it as a pointer. 

Louis needed to leave. Say goodbye to the place he met the boy that changed his life. 

He got up, brushed the grass from his bum. He wanted to kiss the ground, take a speck of dirt with him to savor this place. 

Instead, he waved goodbye and didn’t look back as he disappeared back down the path. 

* * *

“He’s leaving today.” 

Harry was sitting in the booth of Rosie’s. Ava to his right, and Niall and Kennedy across from him. The plate of french fries on the table could go fuck themselves because Harry couldn’t focus on anything else. Even with his favorite food in the dead center of the table.

“We gotta get you laid, buddy,” Niall threw back a sip of his soda, giving Harry’s leg a kick under the table. 

“Maybe I should unblock him,” Harry went to reach for the phone in his pocket, Ava grabbing his arm before he could finish. 

“No. He’s an ass. You’ll get over him eventually.” 

“Ava’s right. It sucks now, but you dodged a bullet with this one, H.” 

He shook his head. 

No matter what anyone said, he knew he was meant to meet this boy. He knew he was meant to spend the summer with him. And he knew there had to be more written in the stars than this. 

“There has to be more,” he twirled his straw around in his milkshake, “I really, ya know. A lot.” 

They all nodded. 

He tapped his foot up and down, letting his brain work a mile a minute. He had a plan. And he knew what the next step was. It was just the bringing himself to do it that was the worst. 

Harry looked out the window, presumably at the absolute worst time because as he glanced over, he saw the Tomlinson-Deakin family car driving by the diner. All their suitcases piled on the top of it, strapped in with ropes. He mumbled a “fuck,” under his breath.

Ava put her arm around him, “it’s gonna be okay, Harry.” 

He nodded, “I guess. I’m so mad at him, yet somehow I miss him more than anything.”

* * *

_“You absolute loser!”_

_“You have to admit he’s quite attractive,” Harry giggled tossing another bit of popcorn into his mouth_. 

_“He’s a fox!”_

_“So? What does that matter!”_

_“Be honest, Harry are you into bestiality? If yes, I’m gonna have to kick you out.”_

_“Ew no! I’m just saying, Nick Wilde from Zootopia can get it.”_

_“So you’re telling me that little 12-year-old Harry found a fucking fox attractive? And you still thought you were straight then?”_

_“You do theatre and you thought you were straight.”_

_“Not the same thing!”_

_The two of them were having another movie night, on the agenda was; Tangled, Zootopia, Aladdin, and Frozen. That had been curled up in bed all day long. Louis’s entire family was at the beach and Louis pulled the “I’m sick” excuse to spend the day uninterrupted with Harry._

_“I’m fine with you finding Flynn Ryder attractive, cause I mean ‘cmon. But Nick Wilde?!”_

_Harry laughed, rolling over on top of Louis. He pressed a kiss to Louis’s lips._

_“You on top? That’s new for us,” Louis joked, he kissed him back, “But seriously, I could stay like this with you forever.”_

_“Let’s.”_

_“Let’s what?”_

_“Stay like this forever!”_

_“I like the sound of that. As long as you never bring up Nick Wilde again.”_

_“Nevermind. I don’t think I can let him go,” Harry frowned._

_Louis kissed him then. Letting those little butterflies fly around his stomach again._

_Harry started tracing his fingers around the freckles dotted around Louis’s arm, dragging his finger from each one like connect the dots._

_“It’s like you have constellations on you,” he said, continuing to find each little freckle._

_Louis smiled at him, pressing a kiss to Harry’s forehead, “pretty.”_

* * *

Lottie climbed over the seat into the third row of the car, nearly kicking Phoebe in the face as she did so. 

Louis looked up at her, taking his earbud out, “Can I help you?” 

“We’re talking about this,” she mumbled to him.

He let out a laugh, “No we’re not.” 

The last thing he wanted to do was talk about it. Relive the moments he so desperately wished he could take back. 

“It’s not optional. Now tell me what happened,” She pulled her feet up on the seat, getting ready to listen like it was some sort of show. 

“I ended things like 2 weeks ago ish. I was struggling with the idea of coming out and I knew if he and I tried to keep up whatever this was when I went back home it would be hard. Only thing is, I said some shit I didn’t mean. And I regret it so much.” 

“What was the shit you didn’t mean?”

“That he was irrational. And that he and I were always just temporary. Something like that. I was just a straight-up ass.”

“You think he’ll ever forgive you?” Louis shook his head. 

“No way in hell.” 

This feeling he felt was stupid. So, so stupid. He never felt this feeling for anyone and was convinced he never would again. He didn’t dare say the word though. There was always the question of “what does that feeling feel like?” And Louis was guilty of wondering it too. He could only describe it one way. 

He’d say it was like the feeling of coming up for fresh air after being trapped underwater, near-drowning. Or like the way the sky looked on a bright summer day. 

With Harry, he’d rearrange all the stars in the sky for him, he’d make sure he’d find a way to do it. Louis would move mountains for that boy. That beautiful boy.

“Lots? Do you think you could give me some space? I just want some time to myself for a bit.”

She gave him a quick side hug, “Yeah, love you,” she climbed back over the seat leaving Louis to himself in the back. 

* * *

The “Welcome to New York” sign sucked to see. It was all big, green, and ugly. And he much preferred the sign that had welcomed him to New Hampshire. It looked the same, but Louis would tell you it was a lot more inviting somehow. 

Anyone else entering the city would be looking out the windows. Staring up at all the tall buildings that nearly kissed the clouds, but Louis couldn’t care less about those shitty buildings. And the closer he got to the road his building was on, the more he thought about how much he was finding himself despising the place. 

Dan pulled the SUV into the parking garage pulling into their assigned spot. The family filed out of the car, “Okay everyone grab your suitcases and bags. Start bringing them up,” Jay grabbed the youngest twins’ car seats, carrying them both at the same time, (a skill she so proudly acquired from having two sets of twins). 

Louis stood on the tire of the car, pulling some suitcases off the top, he pulled up the handle on his, dragging it across the parking lot into the elevator. 

The top floor. He pressed the button, waiting for the doors to ding open when he got into his apartment. 

The place was quiet. All the lights were off and the blinds shut. It didn’t feel like home. Louis wasn’t sure if it ever would feel like home again, because the last place that truly felt like home, was in Harry’s arms.

  
  



	15. Stellatus

The autumn months went by in a haze. The return to school was a difficult change as always, and with the added weight of college applications beginning, it made it all worse. 

Louis had kept himself busy with his usual activities; pestering his friends to go to the movies with him every week, rewatching all the seasons of Criminal Minds along with starting a new series that he was certain would turn into a new obsession of his, and attending stupid high school parties where he’d drink away his feelings of the summer. 

He had also added the song “Summertime Sadness” into his playlist when he returned home from New Hampshire nearly three months ago. He’d cry to that song an unhealthy amount and even taught himself how to play it on the piano when he had nothing better to do. 

It’d be a complete lie if he said he hadn’t thought about Harry much. Because the truth was, there wasn’t a moment he wasn’t thinking about him. Every little thing in his life reminded him of the boy he fell so hopelessly head over heels for. 

First, it was when he was walking down the street to get a cup of coffee when he passed someone that could pass as Harry’s doppelganger. He had to do a double-take on that one. But when he saw the god-awful high-top Jordans on that kid’s feet, he knew it wasn’t his Harry. 

And then it was the time he drove past a billboard for the Broadway musical, Mamma Mia, and immediately thought about how Harry would love to go see it. 

On the first day of school, a new kid entered his homeroom. The kid’s name was Harry. And despite having the same name, he was the complete opposite of the Harry he knew. This kid was ginger, pale skin, horrendous looking glasses that totally didn’t fit his face, and braces. Zayn still joked to him about how he should get with this Harry instead. 

Absolutely not. 

One thing Louis made sure to avoid at all costs, however, was looking at the stars. That was dangerous territory. And at the rate he was going, he was sure he’d never look at those stupid gas balls ever again. 

He did make the decision to apply to two schools in New Hampshire. On top of all the New York schools, he made sure to tack those onto the end of the list and no one had to know about it. 

When they all got home from New Hampshire, Louis sat all his friends down, giving them the complete rundown of his time with Harry. And as awkward as it felt telling his friends about a boy, he found it weirdly freeing. He felt like the person he was around his friends was never really himself until this point. And he wasn’t all that surprised when Zayn looked at him and asked, “how was the sex, though?” 

It was also quite refreshing knowing he was still their best friend, Louis. He had spent so long working himself up over the fact that they may not see him the same after they found out about his hidden sexuality. But if anything, they saw him in a better light finally being able to see him as his true self. 

Louis had his feet dangling off of Liam’s bed, the group of them going over there for every intention of studying for the calculus exam they had the next day. Instead, they were spending their time watching John Mulaney comedy specials on Netflix and quoting the lines they found funniest. 

“Louis, what are we doing for your birthday?” Zayn scribbled a few notes down on his math sheet, before looking over at the kid doing absolutely none of his homework. 

“Dunno. It’s in like 4 weeks though. Why we gotta plan it now?” 

“Just answer the question.”

“Uhhh, I don’t know. Don’t really want a party. Just come over and we’ll hang out.” 

“Boring!” Gigi poked, grabbing her textbook from her bag, opening it up, and skimming it for the answer to question five. 

“Just not in the mood,” he shrugged. 

Zayn rolled his eyes, “You haven’t been in the mood for anything since we got home from New Hampshire.”

Ridiculous. Louis’ been just fine. Completely normal since getting home, and he’d argue that in court. 

“I’ve been completely fine! What are you on about?” 

“I mean, Zayn’s kinda right. You have been off since we got home. I know you’re broken up over Harry, but you gotta move on,” Liam added. 

“Can we not bring Harry into this?” Louis hated the mention of his name for the pure fact that anytime he heard it, he wanted to cry and have a complete breakdown. 

He had tried to avoid every conversation his friends or sometimes, Lottie and even his mother would start about Harry. Because he’d always lie and say “I’m fine,” and his personal favorite one to tell, “I don’t even miss him.”

To which anyone he’d say that to would groan and roll their eyes, choosing to not dig deeper into the root of Louis’s shit mood. 

“Can you admit you miss him?” Brooklyn glared over at him. 

He shook his head, “Absolutely not,” he took a sip of his cappuccino from the Starbucks down the street, he had continued drinking them since first trying them over the summer. Although, Starbucks didn’t make them like Harry did. 

“I’m gonna fix this. Mark my words,” Brooklyn grabbed the drink from his hands, taking a sip of it. 

“Heyyy,” he pouted, snatching it back, “also that’s unlikely. But good luck!”

* * *

The hallways of the school were filled with cheerleaders running around handing out candy cane grams to students. They were in their red and white uniforms, short skirts, and long-sleeved crop tops. If he were straight, Louis would probably be flirting their ears off. 

One of the girls, Hannah, came running up to Louis, handing him 2 candy canes.

“Louis Tomlinson,” she handed them over, a big smile on her face. 

“Oh, uh, thanks,” he smiled back at her. 

He looked at the little notes attached to each. One from Brooklyn saying, “ _ Cause Harry can’t give you one. Pretend this is from him :)”  _ he smiled at that, tucking it into his pocket. 

The other note, a little more surprising. 

_ “Louis, had my eye on you for a while. Hope you’re into guys. 607 322 1891 ;) -Luke”  _

And, oh, someone, more specifically, Luke who he did the school play with last year knew he was into guys. Well, hoped at least. 

There were two thoughts running through his mind. 

  1. What about Harry?
  2. Maybe I should text him. I mean Harry is done with me anyways. 



Something about even thinking about texting another guy felt wrong. It shouldn't. Louis is single. He’s 18. And he’s allowed to talk to hot guys. Especially hot Luke. But he couldn’t because of all those stupid feelings he still had for Harry. 

He ran over to Brooklyn’s locker, shoving the note in her face, “Look.” 

“I can see. You gonna text him?”

He tilted his head at her, “Should I?” 

She shoved a few books into her locker, getting out the history textbook. She shrugged, “Are you over Harry?” 

He looked down. 

‘That’s a no,” she slammed her locker shut, “Knowing you, it’s probably not the best idea. For starters, you aren’t coming out to the school yet. And you’re not over Harry.”

“Why does this suck so bad?” 

“Which part? The Harry part or the Luke part?” 

“Harry.” 

She looked over at him, giving him a half-smile, a quite depressing one might he add, “It’ll all work out. I promise.” 

Louis sighed, throwing his head back against the row of lockers, “It better.” 

“It will. Now come on, we have a history test and I  _ know  _ you didn’t study.” 

* * *

No matter how much time he spent with Harry this summer, he couldn’t bring himself to believe the astrology bullshit. He was sure it was a whole scheme made up by some philosopher to get money or attention or  _ something.  _ Surely not every person aligned with their zodiac sign, and surely the stars didn’t give a fuck about everyone in the world. 

He was pretty bitter about it all. When Harry was around he sits there and let the boy go on and on about all the theories that existed about the universe, but now that he couldn’t hear the words from Harry’s mouth, whenever he heard the words, “everything happens for a reason,” he wanted to flip a table. 

If everything happened for a reason, he figured it was pretty shitty that the universe wanted him to be miserable and sad for months on end. Unethical too. Whoever was in charge of this whole thing should really get their shit in line. 

Another thing that sucked and was completely so horrible of the universe for putting onto him, was making him feel so out of place in his own city. 

New York was his place anymore. 

The streets felt foreign and the people weren’t his people. He missed walking down the street and knowing who everyone was. And he missed walking into Rosie’s Diner and being greeted by his favorite waitress who would already begin getting his chocolate milkshake ready. 

One day he even tried convincing his mom to move to their summer house full time. Which prompted her to look at him like he was absolutely insane. And maybe he was. Insane enough to wanna flip his entire life upside down just so he could try and time travel back to the warmer months. 

Louis was sitting with his family, watching some horrible animated Sonic movie that Phoebe thought looked good. And frankly, it was easily one of the worst films Louis had seen. His face was buried in his phone when he received a text message from Brooklyn. 

He was nearly falling asleep, it was already a long day for him and with it being almost 9:30 at night he wanted to ignore the text and pretend he was already knocked. 

_ Brooklyn: Meet me on the rooftop of my building in 15.  _

_ Louis: bee, i don't know if you forgot but i’m gay _

_ Brooklyn: stop being smart and just come over. Rooftop. 15 minutes.  _

_ Louis: fine. Don’t pull anything funny _

It was fucking cold out. And Brooklyn was fucking crazy to have Louis go up on a rooftop at 9:30 at night in December, in New York City. Batshit crazy she was. He rolled off of the couch, wrapping the blanket from the back of the couch around him. 

“I’m going to Brooklyn’s,” he started heading to his bedroom.

“Be home no later than midnight!” Jay shouted down the hallway. 

He threw on a baggy hoodie that he dug out of the bottom of his hamper, then grabbing his puffer from his closet. The best Brooklyn was getting was some crappy sweatpants that had a hole in the ankle, and messy hair. If she was gonna drag him out in 12-degree weather, she could deal with him looking like shit. 

Lou grabbed his phone, sending another text to Brooklyn.

_ Louis: are you gonna tell me why i’m coming over _

_ Brooklyn: no _

_ Louis: then im not coming _

_ Brooklyn: fine i just wanna talk to u _

He arched a brow at that. Sending a last “ok” text, he grabbed his house keys and started down the elevator to the lobby of his building. 

He walked through the hall, lit by wall lights, he waved to the bellhop, heading out the revolving door. He started down the street, debating whether or not calling for a cab was even worth the money. Brooklyn’s building was only 12 blocks away but it felt like 40 with the brisk wind chill that was picking up in his direction. 

Louis watched his feet as he tried not to step over each crack in the sidewalk, his hands were dug deep in his pockets and he was trying to keep his neck tucked in tight to preserve any warmth in his body. 

He took a right after 8 blocks, heading closer to her building. Luckily, he only had to tell someone to ‘piss off’ once on his walkover. Manhattan was full of creeps trying to get any sort of interaction with teenagers under their belt. Quite disgusting. 

Louis pressed the bell on the outside of the apartment building, ringing in for Brooklyn’s place. After being buzzed in, he took the elevator straight up to the top floor, where he opened the “residents only” entrance to the rooftop. The 15 steps up were a bit tiring when he had already practically jogged here to escape the cold. 

He opened up the door, heading onto the rooftop. 

“Bee?” he turned to the other side of the rooftop. 

And it couldn’t be. No chance that was who he thought it was. He rubbed his eyes with his sleeve, looking again. He turned around, was he being punked? 

“Harry?” Of course, it was him. No other person it could be unless Harry Styles of New Castle had a twin brother that was stalking Louis now. 

“In the flesh,” the boy smiled. His hair was hidden under a beanie and he also had his hands stuffed in the pockets of his coat. 

“What are you- why? I mean, you’re here,” Louis stayed still in his spot, not daring to move any closer. 

This had to be a fever dream, and Louis was wondering when he was going to wake up from it. When his mom was going to call his name for breakfast. 

“I am here,” he stepped closer to him. Only two steps, easing himself into it. It was a weird sensation being in the same place as one another again. It was like unfamiliar territory they had to re-enter. There was some barrier between them they had to break one last time. 

Louis just nodded. He found himself speechless. Wasn’t sure what to say next. He stood there wondering how to react. More importantly, stood there wondering why the hell Harry was here. 

He looked so pretty though. His cheeks were pinched with crimson, presumably from standing in the cold waiting for Louis to arrive. He had on his favorite pair of jeans, the ones that he claimed were the “perfect shade of denim blue”, and even had on his black Chelsea boots. Louis had remembered him saying he was gonna start wearing them more. It was a good look on him, too. Made him look more mature. 

“Why?” Louis muttered out. 

“Ya know? The whole time I’ve been waiting here, and my entire drive up to New York, I’ve been trying to figure out what I wanted to say to you. Had a whole speech planned out,” harry kicked the ground with the toe of his boot, “but now, you’re standing right in front of me and all I can seem to think is about how pretty you look.”

Louis wasn’t quite sure how he looked “pretty” considering his stained sweatpants and oversized hoodie that needed to be washed was the ensemble he was rocking. 

“You’re here,” Louis said again. 

Harry chuckled, “Yeah I thought we already established that,” he smiled that big, pretty goofy smile Louis was so obsessed with. 

“I thought you never wanted to speak to me again?” 

“I didn’t. But I don’t think that’s possible.” 

“Oh?” 

Harry walked closer to him. 

“Louis, letting you go. Letting  _ us  _ go was the hardest thing I ever had to do.” 

Louis shook his head, “You didn’t let me go. I let you go. And I shouldn’t have.”

“Yeah, and I should’ve let you talk. We both fucked up.” 

“Guess we did.” 

Harry looked up into the sky, the stars covering the black abyss. He turned around, finding himself circling around to stare at all the stars. 

“Louis?” 

“Harry?” 

“I can’t go on knowing we aren’t together.” 

“Life is crazy,” Louis stepping a foot closer. Slowly breaking that invisible boundary line between them. 

“Fuck, Louis can you just listen for a second?” Louis looked up at him at that moment. 

The cold was getting to him, his fingers going numb in his pockets and he was pretty positive his nose was going to fall off. 

“Keep talking then Harry. Because I wasn’t expecting you. I didn’t plan for this and I sure as hell didn’t plan a whole speech in my head on the way over here.” 

“You act like I was the one who ended things,” and I guess Harry was right. Louis did act like he was the one who ended things. Which in no way was fair to either of them, but he was bitter and he’d pass it off with that excuse. 

“Well, I tried to fix things. You wouldn’t talk to me.”

“Do you blame me?! I gave you so much power over me that I didn’t realize how bad it would all end up hurting me.”

“Was that meant to be, Harry? Us fucking everything up? Me being a dick and you running from me?” Louis was ticked off because Harry came here and had this whole thing planned and Louis was just standing there like an idiot because the only words he could get out were all the wrong ones. 

Harry stomped his foot around, rolling his eyes up at the sky, “Yeah, Louis. Yeah. you know what?  I am the guy who believes in fate and thinks the stars have some stupid meaning. I’m the guy who thinks that a thunderstorm in New Castle will cause an earthquake in Japan. And I’m the guy who runs away at the worst times. But I’m also the guy who loves you,” and the words neither one of them dared to speak were out, “And I’m the guy who came all the way to some dirty rooftop in New York City to tell you that.” 

He did. And he had. Because Harry loved Louis. And he would drive almost 7 hours in god awful traffic to stand on some disgusting rooftop that probably had a rat in the corner, in the freezing cold to say three words they should’ve said to one another months ago. 

Louis walked over to him. The boundary was broken finally. He pulled his hands out of his pockets, trailing his right hand up to Harry’s face. And all at once, he smashed their lips together. The cold that both of them felt and the damn near frostbite they were both developing all melted away. The heat of their mouths trailing together. Their lips fitting together like a puzzle piece. 

Harry brought both his hands up to Louis’s face, holding his cheeks tight. Neither of them wanted to let go, break apart from the kiss. If they didn’t soon, they’d pass out from lack of oxygen, but they didn’t really care all that much. 

Louis trailed his tongue on the inside of Harry’s bottom lip, pulling off of it. He rested his forehead against Harry’s, he closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath before saying the words. 

“I love you, too.” 

There were over a thousand stars in the sky that night, but none of them shined as bright as Harry and Louis did that day. 

They didn’t say anything else that night. Just found themselves with their arms around each other under the stars. Both of them were washed with a feeling of comfort, finally feeling like they were home. 

They say the stars tell a story. As for Harry and Louis, they were certain their story would be written in the stars forever. Passed down from generation to generation. The love they shared for one another wasn’t like any other. In those moments together on the rooftop, they weren’t sure where they were going, they only knew where they belonged.

Those two boys who met behind the lighthouse in New Castle, New Hampshire, were the tale of a thousand stars. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. And that was The Tale of a Thousand Stars. I hope you enjoyed it. Be sure to leave kudos and comments. And ofc follow my socials. Also if there are any writing mistakes, pretend you didn't see anything.   
> Love, Brooklyn.


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